Dragons Reign
by bearhow
Summary: Set in the DCAU. 8 months after the events of the Judas Contract, the Titans have done their best to move on, and with the help of their new member Donna Troy, all seems well. At least until a villain from her sisters past comes back to greet her.
1. Church of Blood

**So I just decided to start the whole thing over again. So sorry for messing everyone up and all that, but now that I've got it all set and ready to go, we're ready to experience Dragons Reighn together.**

 **Read and review and on with the show.**

 **Chapter 1: Church of Blood**

 **San Francisco, California**

Black ominous clouds began to take shape, circling the spire of the church at the top of the mountain peak, as if the heavens knew of the dark deeds about to take place. The half-moon crept slowly but inexorably towards the proper alignment for the ritual, its cold glow adding a corpse-like hue to the multitude of candles that tried unsuccessfully to illuminate the cavernous interior of the church. A man in his late twenties and wearing a helmet made from the skull of an impossible animal observed the congregation, frowning. Attendance was sparse due to the interference of the Teen Titans two months ago, but those who still "believed" had answered his call zealously enough, eager to receive "enlightenment" at his hands. He may not be the actual son of the late Brother Blood, but no one except for him was aware of it. He had made sure that the knowledge of that fact died, together with all of its owners.

The inside of the aged gothic style designed church was built almost like a stadium, the pews arranged in a descending fashion surrounding a wooden alter at the base of the pews. The Choir area was alive with slow songs being sung in dedication to Brother Blood and his ideals for a better world under his rule, though when anyone had time to write such music was anyone's guess. The occupants in the stands swayed slowly from side to side, following the tune and mouthing soundlessly the words as they allowed the rapture to creep over them. Each of the men and women were dressed in long, floor length, snow white robes with gold trims and hoods drawn over their heads.

The music ceased and the stands became quiet with eager anticipation, but it was still about five minutes before their esteemed leader stepped out from the shadows to the ambo at the far right side of the front of the church, his arms raised to accept the cheers and applause from his followers. Sebastian Blood the II, or so he called himself, wore a smug grin as the cheers fed into his vanity like water filling an empty glass, and he craved more. He couldn't help but reflect on the idea of how impressionable and desperate people are to believe in something, anything that could give them some sort of validation in their pathetic lives.

He rotated the palms of his hands to face the stands, signaling for his followers to quiet down. He let the silence settle for a moment. "My friends! Tonight we push on with the work of my father, tonight we take another step closer to achieving his noble goals!" Soft agreeing and cheers echoed from the stands. The fake Sebastian Blood removed his odd skull helmet, running his hands through his platinum blonde hair and straightening his robes to as if to appear more presentable. "Bring forth my bride!" he gestured to a doorway in the center of the stands.

Over the murmuring of the crowd a young woman, dressed in a long, elegant white gown, was heard struggling and fighting the grip of two men who were pulling her towards the altar. She continued to fight, even as the men chained her wrists and ankles, imprisoning her to the wooden alter. The two men joined the congregation in the stands looking down at Brother Blood and his "bride".

Brother Blood held up his hands again, silencing the crowd, but couldn't silence the growls of anger from the young girl attempting to free herself from her chains. "Behold. That daughter of Trigon, his gem," he glanced down at the young girl, meeting her furious violet gaze, "and my bride. Raven."

The one called Raven glared furious daggers up at the cult leader, however he remained calm and composed, not the least bit intimidated by her stare. Slowly he made his way from the ambo towards dark damsel. "Don't worry child, your going to be apart of something wonderful."

She rolled her eyes, "Wouldn't be the first time I've been told that, and it's just as much a lie as it was the first time." her voice was very monotonous, but was still laced with venom as she spoke.

Blood chuckled, cupping her pale skinned face with his hand. She recoiled as his thumb began to caress her cheek. "I never would have thought the child of our lord Trigon would be so lovely," a dreamy sort of look came over his eyes, "we will make a beautiful child together."

Her eyes widened, shifting from anger to horror, "You can't be serious!"

He snaked his hand around her neck and pulled her closer, "Deadly. The child that we shall create will help to bring this world to its knees, and together we will cleanse it of sin, as husband –" he took her chained hands. "– and wife."

Rage ignited again in Raven's eyes as she heard Blood's words and saw his smug egotistical expression. Her head shot forward, her forehead smashing with a sickening crunch into Blood's nose. He jerked back and lifted his hand to touch the warm, red liquid that now seeped freely from the broken nose. She glared with pure hatred, not bothered by the fact that his own blood was flowing down from the chakra stone on her forehead, though she was bothered that she could hear the voice of her father applauding her attack.

Bloods arm extended in a swift arc and slapped a backhand over the chained girl's face, leaving an angry red welt, but still she stood with demonic fury. He grasped her chin with the other hand, but she twisted violently away and sank her unaturally sharp teeth into his forearm. Blood howled in pain and fury, both fists rising, clenched in choleric outrage, with the obvious intent to crush the half-demoness into submission, just as the windows suddenly shattered, spraying glass and pieces of wood over Blood, Raven and his followers.

Blood shook the glass off of himself, then looked on in anger at those that dared to interrupt the ceremony. "NO! NOT AGAIN!"

He knew who they were instantly. The curvy, orange skinned, firy red-headed leader of the Teen Titans, Starfire. The blue and black armored figure of Blue Beetle, and the green shape shifter Beast Boy. The powerless, but still leathal Nightwing, and the newest ward of the Batman, Robin. Lastly the newest member of their team, the black haired, blue eyed Wondergirl.

The alien princess Starfire, floated above the others, "Sorry, but we're cancelling the honeymoon." Her pure emerald eyes glowed with rightious fury, aimmed directly at Brother Blood.

Blood's face twisted in absolute anger, "KILL THEM!" He shrieked. A handful of men stood up from the crowed, each one raising an automatic weapons, and opened fire at the young team of heroes.

The Titan power couple stood side by side, "TITANS GO!" The Titans seperated, Blood's congregation scattering, Blood cursing the Titans as he struggled to release Raven from her chains.

"Your fathers power WILL be MINE!" he growled, but was kicked in the head by a steal toed boot, knocking off his helmet and taking him to the ground.

The new Robin, Damian Wayne, drew the sword he was known for carrying. "Are you alright?" he asked, but before Raven could respond he was kicked away from the alter by Brother Blood. Damien got to his feet, facing Blood, and threw his sword at his heart, but Blood blocked the attack with a nearby candelabra. Blood charged the young swordsman all while Raven pulled against the chains in order to free herself, cursing herself for feeling useless.

She shook her head, black hair whipping about her face, when she heard a low buzzing fly by her ear, which shifted from a green fly, to her green pointy-eared teammate. "What took you so long?" She asked dryly.

Beast Boy shrugged, changing his normal human hand to the razor claws of a grizzly bear. "We stopped for some take out. We got you a burger, extra pickles."

Without missing a beat she responded, "I hate pickles."

He broke the chains apart with his claw and tossed them aside taking notice of the white gown that clung to her curves. "Nice dress-"

"-shut up," she hissed rubbing her wrists.

"How come you haven't gone all 'red four eyes' on everyone?"

Raven rolled up the sleeve on her right arm, wincing as the fabric passed by a brand on her arm. "When they took me, they put this on me. It keeps me from using my powers."

The brand looked like a star, with a smaller star in the center and small dots placed at each point.

"GET DOWN!"

Damien tackled the two getting them to the ground just as a barrage of gunfire sailed past them. "For someone who has omnidirectional senses, you sure don't use them that much!" he glared at Beast Boy. The changeling snarled, shifting into an enormous green gorilla and beating his chest with a massive roar. Damien got defensive, but then the gorilla threw a punch at the cultist that was sneaking up behind them.

"And here I thought Nightwing was the only dick around here." the gorilla quiped.

Two batarangs sailed passed them from the stands taking down some of the escaping cultists who were heading out the back. "I heard that!" Nightwing growled.

"RAGH!" Brother Blood came back at them with the candlelabra. Without turning around, or even showing much effort, Damien blocked the attack with his sword, then gave a roundhouse kick to Blood's face, knocking the occult leader to the ground. Damien stood over Blood, the tip of his sword placed under the cultist leaders chin.

"Don't. Even. Think about it." his eyes narrowed from behind his mask, keeping Blood on the ground and at his mercy.

Nightwing leapt from the pews landing beside the young Robin. "Lucas Alburn, your under arrest."

"Pfft, Lucas?" Beast Boy scoffed. One by one the Titans gathered the members of Bloods group, Nightwing handcuffing the cult leader himself.

"Where is Blue Beetle and Wondergirl?" Ask Starfire.

"Right here Star." Blue Beetle and Wondergirl floated towards the other Titans, having gone after a few of the congregation members who attempted to flee during the melee.

"And here I thought you said these guys were tough." Wondergirl tossed two of them on top of the growing pile of men and women.

"Well he isn't super charged with OUR powers." Beast Boy stuck out his tongue.

"Real mature Gar," Raven rolled her eyes, "How did you guys find me anyways? And Damien if you say 'tracker' again I will-"

"Believe it or not, we got an anonymous tip telling us where you were and what Blood had planned." Starfire responded.

That confused the demoness even further. "An anonymous tip?"

No one had noticed how quiet the church had gotten, not until an icy chill passed through each of the Titans as well as Blood and his followers. Raven however, instantly felt a presence, a powerful . . . demonic presence, followed by slow clapping coming form the doors. The Titans turned to see a man dressed in a dark black suit, black button up shirt neatly tucked into his black pants with sharp shinned black shoes, and a dark midnight blue tie. He was pale, as if he didn't see much of the sun, with black, carefully combed hair. Everything, besides his skin was dark, including his eyes, dark brown eyes that were almost black. His handsome appearance almost completely masked his troubling presence, even as he flashed a white dazzling smile that had the capability to light up a barn.

He continued his slow clapping as he approached the team of young heroes. "Spectacular! Bravo! Bravissimo! Tens all across the board! Standing 'O' from the remaining judges." He spoke with a thick english accent, that once again added to his charming appearance, but each of the Titans were on edge.

Damien stepped forward, his fingers twitching against the handle of his sword, "Who are you?" he demanded.

Raven put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to settle him, "Calm down, I think I know who it is." she stepped in front of him and cautiously approached the dark stranger, "Your . . . him, aren't you?"

He smiled down at her, a smile that made her knees buckle, "That I am darling, Landon, King of Hell, at your service." He gave a small bow with his head, but when he lifted his head again, each of the Titans were battle ready, "Please don't everyone bow at once."

"Wasn't going to." Damien snapped, but once again someone had to pull him back, this time it was Blue Beetle.

"Easy," he told him.

Jaime Rayes, this creature is inhuman, I cannot tell if it means harm or not, defensive measures recommended.

Blue Beetle looked over his shoulder at the alien creature attached to his spine, "I'll keep that in mind."

"King of Hell?" Beast Boy raised a brow, "I thought her dad was king of hell?" he pointed to Raven.

"Sort of cabbage patch. See there are MANY different hell dimensions out there. Hades, Azarathean hell, or my hell, the Luiciferean hell, to name a few. When Trigon rose about a year ago, and was subsequently trapped, I took over the lease. So I've been managing his hell as well as mine, and having silly humans who want to bring big red back again is just bad for business."

Nightwing narrowed his eyes, "So you were the one who sent the tip on where Raven was?"

Landon grinned, "Indeed I am."

"Why not finish them yourself?" Wondergirl asked with arms crossed. "I'm sure being a king makes you more then capable."

Landon gawked at the Amazon, "And miss a chance to see the famous Teen Titans in action? I think NOT." Landon reached into his suit coat, "Plus I need to make sure no one tries to free Trigon again."

"And how do you plan on-" Before Raven could finish, Landon tapped something against the chakra stone on her forehead. A flash of blinding red light erupted from the contact, her head whipping backwards, as if he had just hit her in the head with a sledgehammer, knocking her backwards, unconscious, into Starfire's arms.

"What have you-" she shrieked.

Landon held up a large round stone in his hand tossing it between his hands like a baseball. "Relax darling. I was just introducing Trigon to his new home."

Damien lifted his sword until it's tip was an inch from Landon's face, "How do we know you wont free him, the SECOND your out of sight?"

Landon's smile vanished, showing impatience and annoyance at the boy. His left eye twitched instantly setting the sword ablaze, burning the boys hand and causing him to drop it to the floor with a clatter. "I told you, someone who spreads chaos needlessly is bad for business. I'm more of a 'organized chaos' man my self."

"And what are you going to do with him?" Blue Beetle asked.

Landon looked down at the stone, "There are six hundred and sixty six crypts on earth, I'm sure one of them will make a nice home for him." Landon placed the stone back into his suit pocket, not at all bothered by the power that pulsed angrily from within it. "Well now I have other business to attend to in the area." He glanced around at the Titans, but his eyes soon found the cult members gathered together, "and pray tell what do you plan to do with them?"

Nightwing stepped in front of his line of sight, "They will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Landon stared with a blank expression, " . . . . and . . . " Nightwing maintained his stoic expression, the one taught to him by his mentor, "Look darling, I know your all about the 'law and order' thing, considering I can't have ANY of them loose to try to free big red, and as king of hell, and punishment, I can afford a more . . . permanent solution." Landon snapped his fingers.

The screams of agony, fear and pain were instant, the Titans spun around seeing each and every member of the cult group being swallowed in shadow and hellfire, being dragged downwards to . . . . the heroes didn't want to IMAGINE where they were going. And there was NOTHING they could do to stop it.

They turned back around glaring with fury at the demon king, who only smiled, not in the least bit remorseful for what he had done. "What?" he asked nonchalantly checking his phone, "If you don't mind I have an appointment I need to make, but I hope to see you all again, real soon." He passed each of them a wink complete with his signature grin and vanished in black mist, leaving the Teen Titans alone to soak in the horror of watching human beings dragged to hell.


	2. Fangs

**Chapter 2: Fangs**

 **2 Months Later**

Raven, the sorceress of the Teen Titans, and half demon child of Trigon, floated a few feet into the air of the Titans training area, her midnight blue cloak billowing about as she did so. Jaime Rayes, the Blue Beetle, stepped up beside her addressing the young brunette in the center.

"You ready Donna?"

The young women dressed in the red unitard, and eyes so blue they were almost silver, gave him a thumbs up. "I was made ready."

Jaime turned to Raven with a smile, "Hit it."

She gave a small nod, closing her eyes, and releasing her powers with white glowing eyes. "Azarath metrion zinthos." Ten pillars placed about the training room were encased in a black blue colored energy and floated into the air. Then, with small movements of her wrists she was able to maneuver the pillars around as they floated in the air, as if leading an orchestra that obeyed her every command.

"Alright Donna, GO FOR IT!"

Donna Troy, or Wonder girl as the world so commonly knew her, took to the air, bobbing and weaving through the dancing pillars with a grace her teammates didn't remember her having four months ago. A few minutes of watching the Amazon warrior, Jaime looked for the changeling. "Alright BB, your up."

Garfield Logan, or Beast Boy, sat perched on a nearby ledge watching Donna as she flew about the floating pillars. Once he was called, he gave a thumbs up, shifted into an eagle, and flew into the maze of pillars. Donna, expecting the animal shape shifter, floated in one spot, bringing her fists up to her face as the pillars continued to float around her. She fell back onto her Amazonian training, opening her senses to find the shape shifter before he made-

Suddenly the screeching of a small howler monkey got her attention from behind. Having never heard such an ungodly racket before in her life, the animal startled her, but she was still ready for his attack. She spun around only to find that a pillar had moved in front of her, blocking her attack on the green monkey, but gave Beast Boy the chance to hop over the pillar and jump on top of her. Jaime stared with concern as Donna began to lose focus and slowly begin a descent to the ground below, all while trying to wrestle away the green primate.

"Jaime I have to-" Raven worriedly looked on to her teammate, wondering if it was to much for her, but the Amazon floated back into position and tossed the monkey off of her shoulders. Raven and Jaime sighed in relief, but none more the Donna seeing as how she was still able to maintain flight even with a chittering distraction. The monkey changed mid-air into a hummingbird and began zipping about the pillars. Donna reached for the lasso on her waist getting it ready to catch Beast Boy, wherever he may appear next, all the while the pillars continued to float around her in an eerie onyx hue. Once again, she opened her senses searching for the winged creature, or whatever he may have changed into, but she wasn't expecting the whistling sound of two batarangs coming right at her.

Donna spun towards the oncoming projectiles, the only thing coming to mind was to lasso one of the nearby pillars to place it in front of her. Unfortunately the magic of a god, and the magic of a demon clearly don't react well together seeing as how her lasso cancelled out Raven's magic bringing the pillar, and herself to the ground below, but not before the batarangs exploded in the spot she was previously floating in.

"DONNA!"

Beast Boy shifted into an eagle again in the hopes of catching her, but she had already hit the ground with a thundering crash way before he changed a feather. Raven gently set the pillars down while Jaime and Garfield made their way to see if she was okay.

"Donna are you alright?" Jaime asked.

Donna, shakily got to her feet, "I'm . . okay I guess. I didn't think we were doing sneak attacks today?"

"We aren't." Jaime growled turning to face the green masked boy, who was standing casually off to the side with folded arms.

"What?" Damien Wayne, the newest member of the bat family, and the newest Robin, clearly didn't see what he had done wrong.

"Are you serious? We're not working with sneak attacks today." Jaime scolded.

Damien gave a minute shrug, "If you plan a sneak attack, then it's NOT a sneak attack."

"That's beside the point," Jaime looked over his shoulder to make sure Donna was out of earshot, "Donna is still new to her powers-"

"-and she wont get any better by being coddled. Distractions, surprises, all of these things happen in the field and one has to be ready for anything."

Jaime was about to argue, but Donna spoke for him, "He's right. Battle isn't fair, and we can't expect it to be."

"Oh come on, will you two stop acting like warriors for two seconds?" Beast Boy whined. "You guys don't have to be 'on' all the time."

"I'm with Gar," Raven stepped forward removing her hood, "While you both raise excellent points, there is nothing wrong with confidence building exercises once in a while."

Damien narrowed his eyes before shaking his head, "Whatever."

Jaime wasn't in the mood to have ANOTHER, argument with him, "Donna get ready for another round, we'll finish up your exercise and go from there." There was a collective nod from his teammates as they returned to their posts, Damien opting to stay at his spot, with arms crossed and a scowl.

Jaime just shook his head. He thought they were making progress with the young swordsman in terms of friendship, and all around "getting along", but that all ended a few weeks ago when Jaime was made second in command. Seeing as how Starfire, the princess of a faraway planet, was often away with her boyfriend Dick Grayson, or Nightwing as he was known, neither of them had a lot of time for training, or smaller matters involving the Titans outside of missions, so they felt the need to "promote" one of the team members already in the tower, in the event Starfire and Nightwing were unavailable. What was a surprise to the team however was picking Jaime Rayes, but what wasn't a surprise was Damien's reaction. Almost instantly he retreated back to his withdrawn, arrogant, asshole self, standing aside the training area while his teammates trained, he himself opting to train alone.

"Alright Donna, let's hit it!" Jaime shouted and the exercise began again.

* * *

Once the evening training session was over, including an extended private session for Damien, the Titans went about for their separate evening activities, which, since it was Sunday, meant a group activity. Movie night.

"Alright, so what are we feeling like tonight?" Beast Boy clapped his hands together enthusiastically.

"Well who picked last time?" Jaime asked.

"That was I," Donna raised her hand, sighing slightly, "we watched the tale of the big wolly creature, who had to earn the love of the young woman in order to become a man again, and for some reason included talking teacups and a clock. Who knew men were capable of such creating such romance?"

"I sure didn't." Raven mentioned casually as her nose was stuffed in a book. Donna giggled to her new "girlfriend". Sure the sorceress was odd, and different, but then again this whole "man's world" experience was new and different, and she was loving EVERY second of it, including getting to know her funny male companions, and the introverted dark girl.

"Agh, Raven how can you be reading now?" Beast Boy got into her bubble with his hands on his hips like a disapproving parent.

Without looking up she responded, "Oh I don't know, it something I learned as a kid and it stuck."

The green teen rolled his eyes, "I mean it's your turn to pick the movie."

"Let's watch the good one." she mumbled.

"Well that's not very specific."

"And narrows it down drastically."

Beast Boy suddenly got a mischievous gleam in his amber eyes, a sly smirk revealing his fangs, something Jaime recognized, so he decided to lean back and watch the spectacle unfold. With cat-like reflexes, Beast Boy snatched the book out of her hands and quickly began scanning the pages. "So whatcha reading here Rae-Rae."

With a furious glare she lifted herself from her spot on the couch, "Gar, give it back while who still have eyes."

"Oh my god," Garfield breathed, "Are you reading a romantic novel?!"

"No I'm NOT!" She reached for her book, but he kept it from her grasp. Damn when did he get so tall?

He continued evading her attempts by jumping about the living room, while thumbing through her book, "Oh so your NOT reading about Horatio, the lovesick Gondolier?"

"GARFIELD MARK LOGAN!" Raven flew after him, using her familiar lavender colored power to rocket herself across the room to take him to the ground, but the animal shape changer, turned his arm into a tentacle keeping it from her grasp.

"Full name Gar, might wanna give her the book back." Jaime called form the couch, Donna however found the whole situation interesting.

"Lets see, why would our little Rae-Rae be reading a romance novel?" Using the vision of an eagle, and the book hovering high above his head he attempted to read a few lines.

"That is NONE of your business." she growled, for once missing the voice of her father trumpeting in her brain to gut her friends like pigs.

"'She shuddered under his touch, as he traced the sinuous of her gentle child barring hips, his sensual touch traveling downwards over her milky thighs'-"

"Well look at that," Damien's voice spoke from door, his arms crossed looking down at the pale and green teens, a humorous smile twitching at his lips, "he can read."

Beast Boy laughed to himself, muttering a joke about how Damien actually has a sense of humor, completely unaware of the ever reddening face of the empath laying on top of him. Raven gawked at Damien, as if willing him to vanish, but he continued to stand with a bemused, yet entertained expression. Raven scurried off of the changeling, grabbing her book from Beast Boy's tentacle in the process.

"Hey Damien you up for movie night?" he asked.

Damien's smile vanished, being replaced by his "business" scowl and headed for the exit. "No thanks, I'm doing patrol tonight."

"Come on Damien, you've been patrolling all week, you can take a break for one night can't ya?" Jaime tried.

Damien looked over his shoulder to his "leader", "I've been monitoring a series of shipment containers said to belong to Oswald Cobblepot from Gotham, and my father has asked me to keep an eye on them. Since you HAVE to know what I'm up to."

"I never said that," Jaime stood up, "Your apart of this team, and that being the case we need to be aware of your comings and goings in case we need-"

"-I've told you before, I work better alone." Without another word he left the tower, leaving Jaime to shake his head.

"One step forward, ten steps back with that kid." he muttered.

"Eh, he's just ants at a picnic," Beast Boy got to his feet turning to the empath, "So Rae, what movie you wanna watch?" He hadn't noticed Raven glaring daggers at him, or a blush of pure embarrassment glowing across her pale skinned face, but he noticed it now. "Whoa, are those lasers set to stun?"

With a huff and her book clutched tightly against her chest, she turned away from him, heading out of the living room. Garfield glanced back at his remaining teammates, wondering what he had done wrong, and in confusion followed behind her.

"Wow he's stepped in it now." Jaime muttered flopping onto the couch. He wanted to chat up with Donna, but his newest team member was gone.

* * *

"Rae, come on I was just messing around-"

"-It's RaVEN." she snapped, not turning to face him.

"Okay, okay, RaVEN . . . hey stop!" He grabbed her shoulder, but she jerked his hand away, but she did finally stop. Now that he had the chance to actually THINK about his actions, the pieces started to fall into place. "Oh man, look I, uh, I didn't mean to embarrass you like that, I wasn't thinking-"

"-no you weren't thinking were you!" she turned around, her violet gaze piercing his amber orbs with malice and anger, "You just walk around here without a care in the world, huh? Nothing matters to you? Everything is just one big joke to you, huh?"

Garfield got defensive, "Come on, that's not true, I can be very serious." She scoffed, muttering a "whatever" before stomping off. "Look, I'm sorry okay. I'm sorry I embarrassed you in front of 'Damien the great', I honestly didn't mean too." Raven slowed her march to her room, her senses telling her he was being sincere in his apology, even if he was a bit bitter about the subject of Damien. Still her anger was bubbling in the pit of her stomach, and she couldn't just let it go. "Look if you want my advice-"

She scoffed again, loud enough that he stopped speaking instantly. "Sorry, but your the last person to give ME dating advice."

Garfield felt a spark of anger ignite inside of him, "What's THAT supposed to mean?"

Her infuriation with him had finally reached it's boiling point. "Well considering the last girl you were interested in tried to KILL us, doesn't really lead me to think your the best suited to give advice in the romance department!"

The resulting silence was just as deafening as the loudest explosion that was two feet in front of you. The two teens had been friends since Raven joined the team some years ago, and right now all they could do was stare at each other, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Slowly Raven's anger was replaced with a thick pulsating sadness and heartbreak, as his powerful emotions began to wash over her. Not only could she feel it, but she was starting to see it overcome his facial expressions, until finally, the weight of her outburst was starting to settle over her.

Her furious scowl had vanished, leaving behind a look of complete disbelief at her own words. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, she realized she said something she wouldn't be able to take back. "Oh . . . god . . . Gar . . . I didn't-"

"Sorry I embarrassed you Raven. It wont happen again." With his head hanging low, he turned around and headed back to the common room, leaving Raven to place her hand over her mouth in disbelief. Slowly, with her back against the wall, she slumped onto the ground.

"What have I done . . . " she gasped.

* * *

Damien Wayne sat perched on top of a stack of shipping containers overlooking a series of three that he was told belonged to Oswald Cobblepot, or as he was often known as in Gotham, the Penguin. Jaime was right though, this was his seventh night in a row looking over the containers and he was starting to get antsy, but he kept telling himself his persistence would pay off . . . even if he didn't believe it. There would be occasions were someone would come close to the containers, causing his fingers to twitch slightly around the handle of his sword, but would relax once he saw they were just some vagrant walking about late at night.

With an exhale he wasn't shy about hiding, he slumped against the side of the roofs edge, never in a million years thinking he, the son of the Batman, would be BORED. His ears twitched however when he heard the sounds of footsteps echoing through the the container yard. He was on his feet in a second, but once again it was only a false alarm.

Damien groaned, "Come on Batman, I thought this assignment would give some excitement away from the KIDS, but where's-" Once again he saw someone walking by the container, but this time someone stopped. He got himself at the ready, one foot on top of the roofs ledge, the other on the ground, ready to launch himself at a moments notice.

"Have you found what your looking for?"

Like lightning, Damien drew his blade and swung behind him. Donna crossed the bracelets she wore in front of her neck and blocked the attack that was intended for taking her head right off. The metallic clang the metal made echoed throughout the shipping yard, bouncing off the containers for what felt like an eternity, but eventually fell into silence once again. Once Damien was sure they were in silence again, and a barrage of armored ninjas were attacking them from all angles, Damien finally relaxed.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He almost shouted.

Donna pushed the blade away with a scrape. "I am joining you on your patrolling. This is a team after all."

Damien rolled his eyes while sheathing his sword. "I've old you, our fearless leader, and Nightwing, I work better alone and I don't-" He suddenly shut his mouth tightly, his shoulders becoming stiff and his senses on high alert, something Donna didn't pick up on.

"I was told this is a team, like it or not I am here to watch your back-"

"-Shh!" Damien hissed, "listen." If Donna was with him, then he was going to take this time to teach her how to be a more effective fighter. Donna tilt d her head, listening to the air . . . And she heard it.

A creature, shrouded in the darkness of the night, leapt on top of the roof and charged at the Titans. Fangs a foot long bared and saliva flinging from its mouth as it let out an ear shattering hiss. The only other thing they had time to see was it's eyes, a pair of Large, glowing bulbs with black slits just like a cats eye.

The Titans dove for cover, as its claws missed their throats by inches. Damien wasted no time in throwing a rope attached to bulbs at the creatures mouth, cinching it's jaws shut. Donna in turn used her lasso to tie the creature down and gave them a chance to examine it further.

It was at least over five and a half feet tall, bipedal, and reptilian. It resembled a giant lizard . . . Wearing a tattered dock workers uniform?

Donna looked at the creature oddly, "I have never seen anything like this before. Have you?"

Without looking up from the tied beast, Damien shook his head, but then hurried over to the roofs edge. "No, but it has friends." Sure enough, more of the same lizard beasts were clawing their way up the side of the roof, each and every one dressed in tattered and torn dock worker uniforms. Before they converged on the Titans, Damien took notice of the fact that the shipping container he had been watching was now wide open, with a lone figure standing in the shadows, watching the spectacle unfold with a pair of silver colored eyes.

Damien drew his sword, cursing the Amazon warrior under his breath. "Robin, he must retreat. They are to numerous to fight."

"They aren't the issue," Damien glared at the figure in the darkness, "He is." Without a thought to his own safety, or that of his teammates, he leapt from the rooftop, landing on the lizard beasts as he did so, and took them to the ground.

"Sweet Hera," Donna followed suit, albeit a bit more clumsily, but were able to hold off a few of the beasts once she landed onto the ground.

"Keep them busy!" Damien ordered then sprinted towards the container, fighting the lizards out of his way as he did so. She'll be fine, he reasoned, the sister of princess Diana against overgrown lizards? A simple enough task for her. The figure, noticing that Damien was headed right for him, docked back into the container. Damien stood with his back against the open metal door, his sword at the ready and a smile on his face.

"Either your stupid for cornering yourself, or this is a trap." He spoke to the individual waiting for him.

There was a soft chuckling from inside, "Why don't you show yourself and we can find out together."

Damien took a moment to examine their voice. It was an English accent. Not like the demon they met a couple months back. No this belonged to a younger voice, but had the same sense of charm to it. Unfortunately he didn't recognize it. With his other hand close to his belt, preparing for anything, he spun around to face the opened doorway. Immediately he was sprayed in the face with a type of repugnant smelling gas, but quickly he managed to attach a small breathing apparatus to his mouth to help filter the gas. Whatever it was, he was now safe from. He swung his sword side to side to clear a way through the gas, but was struck in the side of the head and knocked him to the ground.

"That's cheating," the Englishman stated, "And here I was looking forward to using my special gas on a member of the Teen Titans, and Robin no doubt."

Disoriented, Damien was still able to kick his feet out from underneath him and get to his feet with his sword at his neck. No he still couldn't see who or what he was up against, so he had to rely on his awareness of the space around him to know where his opponent was. Currently he was on the floor, but he wasn't there long. He batted the blade away and got to his feet, throwing another punch at him, but Damien quickly docked out of the way so that he hit the metal wall instead. Damien rolled to the ground, quickly getting to his feet and swung his blade at the space where his neck was located.

There was a whooshing noise as he hit air with his sword and quickly realized that he was now alone on the container, and was swiftly locked in. Damien began to pound onto the door screaming for the one on the other side to let him out, but he only got laughter in response.

"I do apologize my friend, but as much as I have been looking forward to our meeting sense I fed you that false story of this container being owned by, my real prize is waiting for me with my Fangs. Cheers."

Damien continued to pound, but he could still hear the sounds of Donna struggling with the lizards and now the dark man with the silver eyes. He growled to himself in frustration and began to pound onto the door again. After a while though he realized he had to think about this intelligently. He fumbled around his belt in the darkness, removing a flashlight that showed him the doors of the container. With his sword, he struggled to get the doors opened, the sounds of battle beginning to wear on him.

"Why is she here?!" He growled, "I was supposed to be alone . . . No. He was waiting for Donna. How?" But he already knew the answer. He told his team that his father told him to watch the container, when in reality he got the tip about the container for the whole team, but he opted to go himself. "Damn it! He was waiting for Donna to take a shift by the container and she just happened to follow me tonight." Seeing as how nothing was working to free himself, he only had one last choice. Quickly he began to strap a few explosives to the doors, but just as the first one had been placed, the door suddenly opened.

He leapt back, his grip firm on his sword, but it wasn't the enemy he was staring at. Instead he was staring into the masked eyes of his elder teammate, Nightwing.

"Damien! Wha-"

The young swordsman blew past him into the open air. "Donna! Where-" Hey froze, but managed to catch the fading form of Starfire heading to the sky, with a bloody and injured Donna in her arms.

He stood there. Motionless. The sword dropping to the ground with a clatter. What had he done? Was she . . . ?

"Damien," Nightwing's call fell on deaf ears as he continued to stare into the sky, "Damien. What happened?"

* * *

 **morning.**

Raven sat in floating in her usual meditative lotus position, eyes closed, and her breathing steady, but she was only semi-focused on her meditation, her main focus was extending her senses towards the room of her green friend for when he would leave his room. Fortunately she had strategically placed herself so that once he exited his room, she would be able to intercept him and hopefully apologize for the night before. So far he was still in his room, asleep.

It's almost ten, how can he still be asleep? She wondered, but what was more troubling is where was Damien?

It wasn't unusual for him to be out all night on occasion, something the members of the Batclan were known for, but something just seemed . . . off. She wasn't entirely sure what, but it was an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, one that she learned NEVER to ignore. Not after . . . .

She shook her head attempting to center herself again and locate the changeling. It's not like she meant to be cruel last night, he just made her so upset and she just snapped, and Terra was the number one subject to shut him up quickly, still it was a pretty low blow on her part. But wasn't it the same caliber shot as his "Damien-the-great" comment? That was a silly question, of COURSE it wasn't. Though nothing was spoken out loud, she could admit to herself that she had SOME level of attraction to the new Robin, and to an extent, her team sort of knew it. As much as she hated the fact, and as much as it seemed to escape everyone's knowledge, she was still a teenage girl. An insecure teenage girl who sees herself in an attractive young man, and a part of her wanted to explore something . . . deeper.

But that would have to wait. Right now she had a changeling to apologize to.

Her empathic radar signaled to her that Beast Boy was up and making his way . . . down the opposite direction? She mentally facepalmed, remembering he probably caught her scent and was heading in the opposite direction to avoid her. Quickly she opened a portal that would lead her to the other end of the hallway where he was headed as to intercept him, and stepped through, putting her face to face with the green teen in question, fully clothed, thank GOD.

Oddly he didn't seem to surprised to see her, even if the sudden portal did startle him slightly. "Morning Rae . . . ven."

She composed herself, not wanting to let on that she had been waiting for him, but just so happened to be "portalling" by . . . because he might believe that. "I was actually hoping to . . . talk about last night,"

He held up a hand to stop her. "You were right, I was out of line with the teasing and I wont do it again."

She shuffled a little uncomfortably. "While I appreciate that, that's not what I'm taking about-"

"-hey, it's all good." he smiled, an uneasy fake smile, "We've been friends to long to let a little tiff, slow us down."

Once again she was grateful, but he was also missing the point. "Gar-"

"Hey wants some breakfast, I know I'm hungry. We have plenty of CoCo pebbles left." He turned for the kitchen.

"No Gar listen-" she paused, but this time it was because her senses were telling her that Damien was back in the tower, with Nightwing and Starfire, with Donna who was . . . "Oh no."

* * *

Switzerland.

An enormous gathering of lizard beings, that had been named Fangs, scurried across the walls, and ceilings of the stone carved tomb like insects. Each Fang dressed in torn clothing from their time as human's, and salivating with hunger. A young man with icy blue eyes, dressed in a long black coat, and a scarf that covered the lower portion of his face, stood back admiring his "army". Though they were just beasts, not the warriors he was hoping for. Still these were just the beginning.

"My . . . son . . !"

An old crackling voice wheezed through the cavern pulling his attention to the candle light of a nearby bed chamber, it too being carved into the mountainous tomb. He left the Fangs to their business, his snow white hair billowing in the air as he hurriedly made his way to the one who had called for him. There in a large bed hidden behind thick dark purple drapes, lay a greying old women, her long bony hands reaching out for her son.

"Mother." His voice, a soft and gentle boyish english accent, a voice his mother found heavenly. "I am here mother."

The women's aged and haggard face, nearly concealed a matching set of ice blue eyes, twisted into a small smile, "My precious boy. You were . . successful?"

"Yes mother, the power you granted me, allows me to change humans into our serpents, but now I need more of that power to continue."

Her long fingers caressed his face, "It shall be done. What about . . . my jewel?"

He shook his head solemnly, "I don't have the numbers to invade Thymescira, or mount an attack against the Justice League just to get Diana, so I went after her sister. Unfortunately she got away. She had managed to contact help just as she was weakened, rendering us unsuccessful."

His mother wheezed, "Worry not, my child. I have the utmost faith in you. You will find my jewel, I know it." She let her head relax onto her pillow, "Come to me later and I shall grant you more power to turn these pathetic humans into our soldiers."

"I will mother," he stood up, "Is there anything else you desire mother?"

Once again she moved her head to face him, "No Malchior, I just need you to carry out my plans."

Malchior smiled from beneath his scarf, "It shall be done mother." He gently kissed the back of her hand and excused himself, leaving his mother to rest in peace.


	3. The Teashop

**A bit of a short chapter but I think the IMPORTANT things are covered.**

 **Read reivew and l with the show.**

 **Chapter 4: The Teashop**.

The occupants of the medical Bay watched with concern and hesitancy as the dark mistress of magic worked about healing Donna Troy. What was troubling however, other then the fact that Raven was taking her pain into herself, but how severely injured Donna was. Being the sister of, and possessing the same powers as Wonder woman, you'd think she would be a bit tougher to take down, and yet here she was. Clawed, slashed, and bitten like she was nothing more then a mere mortal.

Ravens hands moved smoothly over the open wounds, her dark magic working to seal the skin together and stop the bleeding. Everyone winced when they saw the same markings appear on Ravens body, though not as severe, it was still clear that she was in severe discomfort.

"Raven," Starfire called, "She seems to be fine for the moment, perhaps she can continue healing herself on her own?"

Raven blinked the dripping sweat from her eyes. Her natural tendency was to keep going, but Donna wasn't the only one in need of attention. With her powers she did a quick empathetic sweep of the Amazon, and once she saw that she would be fine with just some rest, removed her hands.

"She'll be fine," she croaked already the weight of her healing pushing down on her shoulders.

She attempted to stand, but Beast boy put his hands on her shoulders to keep her seated. "Take it easy Rae, you've done enough." Through the darkness of her hood she glanced at Damien on the other side of the room. Following her line of sight, he added. "He's fine. Not a scratch on him."

She sighed in relief, but his physical issues weren't bothering her. Damien was emitting an emotional output that was unusual for him, and it caused her great worry and concern.

"Gar, take her to her room," Starfire ordered. She casually glanced at Nightwing who was with Damien, his stare silently telling her he wanted private time with the young swordsman. Once Beast Boy had Raven safely in his arms, and her head lay against his shoulder, Starfire followed them out of the medical wing.

Now that they were alone, Nightwing turned his scowl to the young Robin, but even he had to admit that he saw something flicker across Damien's unmasked eyes that he rarely, if ever saw.

Guilt.

As rare and welcomed as this was, Nightwing still couldn't let Damien off that easily.

"Did you get a look at the at who did this?"

Without taking his eyes off the unconscious Amazon, Damien reached for the R symbol and his chest and tapped it with two fingers. A small flash drive popped into his hands and he handed the small device to Nightwing. "I didn't see him, but I may have video tapped it."

Nightwing stared wildly at the flash drive. "Video taped?"

"I video taped each of my patrolling or training sessions to help improve my skills." Silence, until Damien glanced at him, "What?"

Nightwing shook his head and took the flash drive. "I spoke to Bruce today to. He says he never mentioned a container for you to watch."

Any guilt that may have shinned in his young green eyes quickly hardened. "It was a trap anyways. A ruse to get Donna out into the open."

"That may be the case, but if we all knew about it then we all would have been able to help her."

Damien glared, "I would have been fine if I didn't have her to worry about."

Nightwing shook his head while staring at the ceiling. "Damien when are you gonna get it through your head, your on a team, we WORK as a team."

Damien got to his feet in a huff. "And when are you gonna get it though your head that I don't NEED a team-"

"-Well you can't be by yourself-"

"-Only because even if I tried to run, you and father would find me some how so leaving is pointless."

Before Nightwing could argue further, he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Damien. You were making progress until we made Jaime second on command. But you have to understand we KNOW you can be a leader, but you don't know how to be a follower, but if Jaime is to succeed then he needs to know you have his back and the rest of the team," he glanced at Donna, "Or more of this well happen."

There it was again. A flicker of guilt, regret and shame.

He fought to keep his chin up, and shoulders back, but Nightwing could see them falling ever so slightly, and before they could, he left the medical room without another word. Nightwing couldn't be sure, but he was considering calling this progress.

* * *

When Damien discovered Raven was able to feel the emotions of others, he trained to keep them bottled, and hidden from her, much like his father was able to teach him to guard his mind. Since this was the case, Raven had a difficult time seeing what kind of shape he was in as she stood outside the closed door of the training room. Although she had a good guess considering Donna was injured and was essentially his fault, she figured he was just blowing off some steam. As she stood, listening to the clash of weapons and holograms disappearing and reappearing, She took a deep breath . . . and another . . . and another . . . and one more, the two pieces of paper getting moist in her clammy hands.

It took Her a couple of hours to recover from healing Donna, and another couple to psych herself up for this, but with One more breath she stepped inside. She caught him taking off the last head of one of his foes, before dropping to one knee, using his sword to steady himself. She had come just in Time it would seem. It appeared his training regimen was over, now he just stayed there on one knee for a rest. But as soon as he heard her boots as she stepped in, his head snapped up in her direction.

"Can I help you?" He asked flatly.

With a throat made of cotton, her hands shaking and sweaty she approached the young warrior. She kept her eyes on any but him, However with her training acquired in Azarath in keeping her emotions bottled, and her face a permanent mask of seriousness, no one would ever think that she was nervous about anything, certainly not Damien.

Damien repeated himself bringing the dark girl to the situation at hand. "What are you up too?"

He raised a brow, and suddenly she was aware that his mask was off, revealing his bright forest green eyes. "You came in here just to ask me what I'm up too?"

The question caught her off guard, well she was nervous so EVERYTHING was going to catch her off guard. "I, um," she subconsciously began fiddling with the two piece of papers between her fingers, "Well, there's this cafe that I go to on occasion, and this Thursday their having a, um, one of my favorite bands coming, and I was wondering if . . . you wanted to go?"

Phase one completed . . . and now . . . we wait . . .

With an unreadable expression, he examined her face, as if trying to see she was messing with him, but knowing Raven, he knew she wasn't. He was quiet for much longer then she wanted, until finally, "As a . . . team?"

Okay, maybe there was more then two steps.

"Well, um," almost robotically, her hand lifted into the air revealing only two tickets, "Just you . . . . and me . ."

He was glancing from the tickets to her, once again examining her expression. After six agonizing seconds, he stood up and headed to the control panel. "Thank you, but I'll have to pass."

He spoke as gently as he could causing Raven to fell an odd mixture of relief and disappointment, but honestly, she wasn't surprised by his answer. "I, uh, just thought you might want to-"

"-I'm fine. I just need to find the guy who did this."

There.

Raven felt a sliver of his emotions peek from behind the barriers he had placed and she felt . . .

Guilt . .

But was it guilt for saying "no" to her, or for Donna?

"Damien-" But he was to busy setting up another round at the hologram simulators. Raven felt an odd twisting sensation in the pit of her stomach, something she had felt before, like when she would catch glimpses of her mother from her quarters at the holy temple of Azar, but she never knew what the feeling was. And yet here it was again, mocking her. She gave a small nod and left him to his devices.

Damien waited until he was sure she was out of earshot, his typing slowly down, and his head hanging slightly. "Sorry Raven," he muttered, before going back to his work.

* * *

How could she have been so foolish? A few months ago when her father was taken from her chakra stone, she was able to feel more freely, though she still had to be careful. And yet with all of her meditative training she wasn't familiar with how to deal with this twisting in the pit of her stomach. It was almost painful, like someone had grabbed her insides and began wringing them out, like you would a wet towel, and in this case it was her powers dripping free. Finally with one final twist, she could feel her powers bubbling to the surface, unable to contain it anymore, she let it go.

POP!

"GAH!"

Her eyes snapped open. She had been so lost in her own little world, she didn't notice Beast Boy standing at the door of his room, clothes from a hamper in his hands strewn about.

"Crap," she muttered under her breath and went rushing to his aid. "Gar, are you okay?"

Beast Boy removed a pair of pants off of his face, staring up into the violet eyes of his teammate. "I think so. I think . . . my laundry exploded? Man I KNEW doing chores would kill me."

"Uh," Raven began putting his clothes back into the basket, "It wasn't your laundry basket."

Beast Boy shook off the shock of the explosion, looking her over oddly, "Wait . . . did you . . "

She gave a small blush and a nervous grin, "Sorry."

Beast Boy tilted his head, "Raven, you haven't had an outburst like that in years, is everything alright?"

She shrugged a shoulder as the two of them cleaned up, "I'm fine, just . . . fine."

Needless to say he didn't believe her, but out of the corner of his eye he saw something next to her knees, a pair of tickets to a local band. "Dude, the Teashop!"

Raven hadn't realized that she had set her tickets down, and they were now in his hands, but her shock, and slight embarrassment, suddenly switched to surprise. "You've listened to the Teashop?"

"Are you serious? Of course I have," Something clicked in his eyes when he looked back to her, "Wait, YOU'VE heard of the Teashop?"

She gave a slightly offended stare, "Why wouldn't I?"

"W-Well there kind of a pretty loud rock group, I didn't think . . . ya know, you'd listen to rock. I would have thought you'd listen to . . I dunno, slow babbling brook, or the sounds of the rainforest kind of thing?"

Raven couldn't help but raise an amused brow, "I'm big into meditation, I'm not a hippie."

Beast Boy let out a nervous chuckle when something else seemed to occur to him. Two tickets? She's feeling down? Oh . . .

"Did you, um, ask Damien to go?"

Raven placed the last piece of laundry into his basket, when a flash of sadness gleamed in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced with her usual stoic expression. "I asked him, but he's busy that night."

Beast Boy "hm'd" looking between the tickets and his friend, when his ears perked. "Dude how about we go together?"

Raven's eyes bugged slightly, "Uh, together?"

"Yeah," he exclaimed excitedly, "I mean I like the band, you like the band, I'm not busy this night. Why not?" Raven glanced at him oddly. It was her understanding that when members of the opposite sex went out together alone it meant they were courting, or dating. Seeing her confusion he decided to clarify, "Think of it this way. Were just two, heartbroken friends, licking our wounds." He shifted into a small green cat and crawled into her lap, rubbing his furry head against her belly just below her ribcage and purring in a begging fashion.

Raven blushed at the close and intimate nature, and blushed even harder when he saw him peak from underneath her breasts with . . . . the face. DAMN THAT FACE! She shooed him off of her with an eye roll. "Fine, you can come, but just as friends."

He shifted back into his normal pointy-eared self. "You got it Raven, dude this is gonna be sweet!"

Raven shook her head with a small smile as he helped her to his feet. An outing with Garfield? This should be fun . . . . right?

* * *

Donna's crystal blue eyes snapped open and sat upright in the hospital bed. "DAMIEN!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Starfire was by her side with her hands on her shoulders to steady her, "it's okay, your back at the tower. Your safe."

Donna's eyes were still wide with fear, "But, Damien-"

"-is fine. We got to him in time. If it weren't for your distress call, we may have been to late, but you did the right thing in contacting us."

Donna slowly began to relax and ease herself back onto the bed, "I just remembered seeing him run for the big metal box, and those things came for me as if he wasn't even there."

"Yes, it would seem that those lizard beings were after you."

For some reason Donna didn't seem too upset by this. Instead she looked down at her body. "Did Raven?"

"She did. Although it's a bit troubling that you were injured in such a manor."

Donna glanced at Starfire, "I think I knew what those things were. I've only heard stories, but it's something."

Starfire placed a hand on her shoulder. "It can wait until your more rested. Richard and Jaime are out on patrol as we speak and if they'll find anything they'll let us know."

Donna didn't have the strength to fight, but if she was right in her assumptions, they were in serious trouble.

A bigger question however is why were they after her?


	4. Malchior

**For those who have been following "Can't run forever" I'll let you know it'll take me a while to update that story. Due to the nature of the chapters being depressing I plan on updating three chapters at a time at least once a day to kind of lesson the blows and get it over with. Hopefully you all like this idea but in the mean time enjoy "dragons reign" and the not date.**

 **On with the show.**

 **Chapter 4: Malchior**

Its not a date.

She repeated those four words more then her own mantra. But really what was she so worried about? Her and Gar were JUST friends and had been that way ever since they met. What was there to be nervous about? She'd seen him naked for crying out loud.

. . . . Although her teenage mind did notice that he was . . . gifted-

"This isn't a date. We're just two good friends hanging out." If that was the case then why was she tempted to ask Donna to borrow some civilian clothes?

Thankfully, her new teammate was up and going again, but seemed a bit more secretive then before. Before she was chatty and curious, now she was quiet, only speaking to Richard or Starfire in oddly hushed tones. Raven wasn't sure if she had spoken to Damien much, but then again not many had.

That was another thing.

If he wasn't training he was patrolling, no doubt searching for the man in Black who had harmed Donna, but so far everything was quiet on that end, which only frustrated Damien more. But not once did he or Raven speak about what had transpired between them. On the one hand she was grateful for not having to do anything awkward, but then again nothing would be resolved. She shook her head, shaking away those thoughts. She was going to a concert with Gar, as friends, and he deserved his undivided attention.

She scanned herself for the thousandth time in the mirror. Long sleeved top with a black choker along with her signature boots and skirt, and yet for some reason was feeling self conscious. Why? She always wore stuff like this when she had civilian time and she never thought twice about it. Maybe it was because Gar was a bit more colorful in his dress, and had nothing to do with the fact that he was green, he was just a bit more . . . showy, and she wasn't.

She nearly jumped clean out of her skin when someone knocked on the door.

"Hey Ra . . . ven you ready?"

She smoothed out her shirt and hair. "Yeah Gar I'm coming."

One more round of "it's not a date" and she headed for the door. No going back now.

Beast Boy was dressed in a casual sports coat with the sleeves rolled up, black pants and a fedora that accentuated his point ears. She could feel his excitement going a mile a minute which almost made her head spin, but she was used to it by now.

"Alright," he clapped, "let's do this."

She shook her head with a smile, but followed. "Are we driving or flying?" she asked.

"Well it's hard to morph and keep my clothes in tact so I was thinking of just driving."

She froze mid-step. "Have you ever . . driven before?"

He gave a wide toothy, albeit nervous grin, "How hard can it be-"

"I'll teleport us there." A violet portal appeared beside them and quickly took them to their destination.

Unbeknownst to them was that they were being followed.

* * *

Three hours into the evening and Raven had all but forgotten about the potential awkwardness this evening may have presented. She shouldn't have been so surprised that she was actually enjoying herself, considering the company she was keeping after all. Beast Boy had always been the life of the party no matter where he went, but tonight he had surprised her. Though he was still all over the place, he was ever careful and thoughtful of his companion for the evening. They had been friends for years and was well aware of her limits when it came to things of this nature, so he came prepared with some headache medicine, and asked her every so often asked her how she was doing and if they needed to leave. She responded the same each time, though she would be lying if she had said she wasn't nursing a throbbing headache, but over the years she had learned a little trick to deal with it all. She just hadn't told him yet.

It also felt nice that he was being so thoughtful about her too. Really . . . Sweet. Would Damien ever do something like this? Probably not . . .

As the crowd quieted down from loud rock, to the cafés usual slower music, Beast Boy led her to a nearby table to sit and settle down. Both were drenched in sweat from both dancing and just being in a confined place with a lot of hyper active teens and young adults. Beast Boy took a seat at the table, flapping his shirt in an attempt to cool himself off.

"Wow, I didn't think you knew how to actually have fun." He breathed.

She was fanning herself with her hands with the sleeves of her shirt rolled up. "Hey, I've planned parties before." Uh oh. But luckily he hadn't caught her slip up.

"Hey, they may have been your ideas, but WE put everything together. I'm just glad you let me come along." Before she could correct him that he had invited himself he spoke again, "You thirsty, cuz I sure am?"

Still a little flushed from the night, she nodded. "Water will be fine."

"Two waters coming up." He hopped from the table and bounded for the counter to order some drinks, leaving Raven to wonder where he got all that energy from. But she also took notice of how, once again, he was avoiding something potentially painful. But she'd worry about that later. Now she just wanted to relax and have fun, which she was glad she was having.

He was third in line which gave him a chance to reflect on the past few hours. He gave her a hard time, but he knew Raven could have fun when she wanted to, and she was awesome company. He wondered why not more people were interested in her. Sure she was a little tough to get to know, but once you had she was amazing, fun, easy to talk to, and cute . . . Super cute. He stole a quick glance, noticing that she suddenly looked away as if he had caught her doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing. He laughed turning forward and noticed he was now second in line. Damien really had no idea what he was missing out on. If he was honest with himself though, he could admit that Raven was indeed, very attractive, just not his type.

But she was the best friend he could ever ask for.

Raven watched the changeling from afar, but quickly looked away when he caught her staring. But she wasn't staring, just . . . . Observing. Her trick to staying sane in large groups was actually quite simple, she focused on him. It may have been a bit of an oxymoron considering his emotions were usually all over the place, but he usually had such a positive light about him that she found herself feeling lighter whenever she focused on it. Sure their were others she could focus on, Kory and Donna for example, but Beast Boy was just so, well rounded emotionally, even if he did bottle them up and hide behind humor and helping people, he was for the most part, her only light in a dark dark world.

. . . . And he was . . . Cute in his own way. Especially. . . The ears.

To bad he wasn't her type.

He quickly returned with a couple cups of water setting one down in front of her. "They were free since I'm, ya know, me."

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously?"

"Seriously! He said, 'hey you're Beast Boy, these are on the house'."

"Uh-huh and had nothing to do with the fact that water is free here?"

"Nope, none whatsoever." He let out a loud laugh, quickly catching the attention of a couple of girls at the other table. But strangely, instead of jumping at the chance to chat them up, he kept his attention on her. "So you doing okay? Your head doing alright?"

Out of the blue however, she suddenly got distracted, "Yeah, I'm . . Ok."

Her empathic radar suddenly spiked, alerting her to a potential danger. Quickly, she focused on those around her, feeling the emotions of happiness, joy, sadness, anger, and then . . . . .

Static. Radio silence.

"Raven? You Alright?" She wasn't paying attention. She was to focused on someone in the café who was emitting no emotional feedback, which only meant three things. They were a psychopath and could feel no emotion, Slade fell into this category, they trained themselves against an empath, like Damien, or they were immune to her senses. Luckily it was easily to weed out the radio silence, she just had to focus on it and not the other noise.

And there he was.

A young man with silvery white hair, a scarf around the lower half of his face, dressed in a long black coat, and some sort of canister gleaming in his hand.

"Raven-"

She reached out her hand encasing the canister in his hand in a magic bubble and keeping him from doing whatever it was he was about to do. It looked like some sort of gas grenade and he was ready to set it off if she hadn't stopped him. Looking towards the doors, she used her powers to pull the fire alarm, silencing the music and creating a mild form of panic and confusion.

"Gar, make a hole and help these people escape." She ordered.

Beast Boy followed what she was doing to the guy with the explosive and didn't need to be told twice to follow her orders. Quickly he changed into a rhino and slammed through the walls of the café, creating enough room for the civilians to get out in time. With Beast Boy helping the patrons, it left Raven to deal with this man in Black, whose hand was still encased in her magic.

His ice blue eyes stared her down with malice and anger, but also slight amusement. "So, this is the demon girl whose pretending to fight on the side of the angels?"

His accent was a smooth English and attempted at sounding charming, but she kept her focus on containing the explosive, but for some reason wasn't able to take it from him.

"Release the explosive," she ordered.

He shrugged, "As you wish my dear." The device slipped from his hand, but not before flicking the trigger that began to fill the bubble from which it was trapped with gas.

She cursed to herself as the canister came closer to herself, now she had to keep focused on keeping this gas contained, which took her focus off everything else. The man in Black kicked up a nearby table sending it into Raven's gut, braking her concentration an releasing the gas. She fell backwards onto the ground quickly realizing that their were still people in the café and the gas was spreading fast.

"Raven look out!" She snapped her head in Beast Boys direction, but didn't have time to tell him to stay away, instead she wrapped them both into a bubble of her magic to protect them both from the ever spreading gas. "Who is that guy? And what is this stuff?"

"Allow me to introduce myself my green friend," the English kid stepped through the gas, unharmed, "I am Malchior, and as for what is this 'stuff', well, just watch." He motioned to those still trapped in the café, the ones who were now screaming in agony.

As their bodies twisted, stretched and snapped into unnatural shapes, sprouting elongated teeth, muzzles, tails and thick reptilian skin.

"Dude, What the . . "

"How Eloquent." Malchior mocked, "you must be a real genius." Beast Boy snarled, But Malchior was unimpressed. He motioned to the mutant lizard beasts. "Please kill them, and if you could make it painful that would be much appreciated." The lizards followed his orders instantly and began clawing at the shield, "unless of course," He got their attention halting their attacks and approached the Titans slowly, "If you would please contact your friend miss Donna Troy to come and aid you, that would be lovely."

They stared at each other oddly, "Donna? Why Donna?" Beast Boy asked,

"Well honestly I don't care much for the 'model turned hero' girl, but she is the only connections that I have to her sister, Diana. So, would you please do me this small favor?"

"How 'bout not!"

Malchior's head snapped to the left in time to take a boot to the face, along with smoke pellets exploding with blinding light to disorient the lizard beasts.

Damien stood to full height, staring down Malchior who was dizzily getting to his feet. "You are really starting to irritate me my young friend." He spoke calmly, but his eyes burned with anger toward the young swordsman.

"Don't worry, your not the only one." Beast Boy charged as a bull towards Malchior who caught him by the horns effortlessly, and threw him against the nearby wall. The strength this Malchior was displaying was impressive, but not enough to stop Damien from charge with his sword aimed at taking off Malchior's head. Raven floated towards Beast Boy to check on him while Damien dueled with Malchior.

"As much as I enjoy your dance offs, mother is getting impatient." He spun out of the way of another strike and kicked Damien into the other Titans. "I guess I'll have to turn up the heat to get Donnas attention." Malchior then reached into his coat and removed a small book, leather bound in black scales with a Dragons head with an emerald ruby in its mouth on the cover. The book flapped open, fluttering through the pages and releasing green energy that began to wrap around the young man in Black. A bright emerald light blinded the three heroes forcing them to look away and covering their eyes.

The air in the café began to get warmer accompanied by a low hissing mixed with growling. The young man, Malchior was gone, replaced with a eight foot tall dragon. Scales as black as night with violet purple belly scales glowing a faint red orange with fire. His wings beat against the wind blowing debris and dirt to further blind the ones intent on stopping him. His triangle shaped pointed head atop a long neck narrowed down at them.

"So, who wants to die first." Malchior dragon hissed. With one breath, he blasted a stream of fire aimed at the Titans.

"Move!" Damien shouted, but didn't need to do it twice.

The dove for cover dodging the fire by inches, Damien throwing a few exploding batarangs at the dragon. Malchior hissed in pain, But was only stunned by the attack. He swiped the young Robin with his tail just in time for an alligator to wrap its jaws around his neck. Raven was about to assist the verdant reptile until the lizards attacked her. She held them off, but out of the corner of her eyes saw Malchior bite down on Beast Boys neck.

Hard.

"GARFIELD!" Blood spurted from the bite marks and was dripping down Malchior's neck as he lifted Beast Boy into the air. With one quick motion, he threw the changeling away like he was nothing and turned his attention to Raven.

"Garfield? Agh!" Damien had jumped onto Malchior's back, and was slicing with his sword, but only succeeded at pissing Malchior off. "Your going to need a stronger blade my friend." Malchior wrapped his tail around his neck and pulled him off, and started squeezing.

Raven's eyes glowed a furious red, "let him go!" She floated into the air, a ethereal Raven forming behind her. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" The Black Raven shout toward Malchior encasing him in black and blasting him out of the café, releasing a coughing Damien to the ground.

Raven floated to his side, but he pushed her away. "I'm . . Fine. Check Garfield."

She gasped, remembering the bite the changeling had taken and ran to his side. He was attempting to get to his hands and knees, back in his human form, but weak. "Oh god, Gar?"

He chuckled, as if completely unaware that he was bleeding out at her knees. "No worries . . . I've had . . . RAVEN!"

One of the lizard beasts had snuck up behind her, and brought its claws down on top of her. The talons slammed on top of a blade blocking their attack. Damien threw a spinning kick into the lizards face and knocked it away, but more were coming. A hissing roar got their attention letting them know that Malchior was back, and upset. Damien quickly glanced at their opponents, then back at Beast Boy and Raven, neither of which were in any condition to fight.

"No," he growled to himself, "Not again." He crouched low to Raven, "Get is outta here." He threw a few more exploding pellets that encased them in smoke.

Malchior flew back into the café, noticing that it was now filled with smoke. He hissed in annoyance and beat his wings as fast as he was able to clear the smoke, only to find the café empty of superheroes. Malchior snorted. "Find them! They can't have gotten far, and Kill them." His lizard minions followed his orders and scurried out of the café searching for the injured Titans.

 **Next time we'll figure out why Malchior wants Donna and why Damien was following B.B. and raven on their not date. Any thoughts?**

 **See ya next time.**


	5. The mountain

**Guess what!**

 **on with the show**

 **Chapter 5: The Mountain.**

Damian tumbled from Raven's chilling portal and to his dismay found himself in an alleyway, not the safety of the tower.

"Why did you bring us here?" He spun around, glaring hard at Raven, only for his shoulders to relax when he saw the state that Beast Boy was in. Raven helped to ease him down against the wall and began to tend to the bite marks that Malchior had inflicted on him. "Raven?"

"I don't even know if he'd make the trip back in one piece," she said, "he's to badly injured."

Beast boy chuckled, but sounded more like a gurgling cough, "Awe, your worried about me?" he said weakly.

"Shut up and let me heal you."

Her hands were inches from his wounds when he grabbed her wrist and fought to push her away, but was too weak. "If you take my pain, and they find us, you'll have less fight time."

She ripped her wrist back, "I'm not going to let you bleed out."

"Whatever your going to do," Damian got their attention as he removed his communicator, "Do it now. I'm calling for backup." Damian pressed the distressed call button on the device before realizing that his two teammates were staring oddly at him. "What?"

"You? Call for backup?" Beast Boy was looking at Damian like he had grown an extra head, and Raven's expression matched.

He rolled his eyes and frowned. "It's a smart tactical decision. There are too many of them and not enough of us that can fight back."

"Awe," Beast Boy cooed, "he likes us."

"Shut up you idiot." Raven scolded as she set about healing him.

"Yes, but I'm your idiot." Raven's powers skidded to a stop accompanied by a hot flush leaping from the base of her neck to the top of her head. She looked up at him, intent on asking him what he meant by that, but his eyes were rolling into the back of his head. Most just be the blood loss. She told herself. "Besides," He weakly continued, " I think we're going to be just fine."

Her hands, once again glowing with healing magic, moved along his injuries. "And What evidence do you have to suggest that."

He slowly moved his arm up until it was eye level with her own and opened his hand to reveal a dirty penny sitting in his palm. "Lucky penny, I just. . . . found. . . ."

"Gar? GAR!?"

At the entrance to the alley, Damian drew his sword when he began to hear the sounds of the Fangs quickly approaching their position. "Please don't tell me he just-"

"Yup." Raven began to work overtime to try and bring her friend back to consciousness, But was quickly losing energy herself. She sighed heavily. If she wanted to save him, she had to dig deep. She just hopped, in the end, that he would forgive her.

Her eyes glowed and eerie white, "By the powers of Azarath, I beseech you . . . Azarath . . Metrion . . Zinthos." With an intense push of her powers she fought to heal him.

Damian glanced over his shoulder, watching the demoness work to heal him. He wondered if she was this gentle when she healed him-

The snarling, hissing and hacking got closer causing him to draw his blade. "DAMIAN!" The tip of his sword was aimed at the sky just as Starfire, Nightwing, in her arms, Blue Beetle, and Donna Troy landed in the street in front of the alley. Blue Beetle and Donna took up defensive positions in the street as Starfire and Nightwing ran to the others.

"What happened?" Nightwing asked. Starfire got into a defensive position when she heard the hissing and hacking echo through the night.

"We have to talk later, right now we're outnumbered and we have a man down." Once again, someone was looking at him with mild shock and confusion, making him sigh in frustration. "What?"

Nightwing sputtered, "sorry it's just that-"

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm not used to retreating. It's just a smart, tactical decision-"

"Raven!"

The three saw Raven had slumped into Beast Boys arms, unconscious. "We need to go NOW!" Damian commanded.

Nightwing listened, to both Damian and the animalistic sounds, whatever they were, it had Damian spooked. So better listen.

* * *

The Fangs converged on the alleyway were the scent of the Titans had led them, but it was empty. They skittered around the area like bloodhounds, tongues flicking in and out to smell and taste the air. The black dragon, the alpha of this group, landed onto his back talons with a bang, his wings kicking up dust and debris in agitation.

"Where are they?" Malchior seethed. The Fangs flicked their tongues in response, and continued their search. Malchior snorted, but lifted his snout into the air. "The Amazon was here."

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Nightwing paced the monitor room as Blue Beetle leaned against the wall with his arms folded. Beast Boy and Damian and just finished recounting the story of what had happened a few hours ago and now they were trying to make sense of it all. In fact Damian and Beast Boy were still unsure of what had happened, but they knew what they saw. "This Malchior spreads a sort of gas that turned the people in this café into walking lizard monsters?"

"And Malchior turned into a dragon with a book?" Blue Beetle finished.

"Yes," Beast Boy said with a roll of his eyes, "what's so difficult about that?"

They glanced at each other, "Well I guess anything's possible." Nightwing shrugged. "But what? This guy just happened to attack a place where you and Raven just happened to be?"

"Malchior had been luring the Titans away in order to get to Donna," Damian responded, "it would make sense for him to be aware of our comings and goings."

"Do you think this place is bugged somehow? Don't say if dude." Beast Boy had a wisecrack on the tip of his tongue if Jaime hadn't stopped him.

"This tower is swept for bugs on a regular bases, so that's out, but not really the issue here." Nightwing rubbed his hands through his hair. "I think it's time we had a talk with Donna, she may have some insight." He motioned for the others to follow him out of the office, but as he and Blue Beetle walked out, Beast Boy held Damian back.

"Is that why you followed us?" He asked. "In case Malchior came after us?"

Damian's expression betrayed no emotion as he responded. "Makes sense he would follow. It was the smart choice."

Beast Boy folded his arms and glared hard. "And had nothing to do with the fact that you said 'no' to Raven's invitation right?" Once again, his face was set in stone, but didn't answer. He spun on his heel and skulked towards the medical room after Nightwing leaving Beast Boy to shake his head as he followed after.

"Idiot," he muttered to himself, "why can't he just tell Raven that-" His words caught in his throat when he walked into the medical room to find Raven floating in some sort of healing trance. Her entire body aglow with her signature blue magic as her chest would rise and fall with each breath she took. Something seemed . . . . different about her. She was in street clothes. Nothing new. He had seen her in this sort of trance before so that wasn't it.

So what was it? Why did she look so . . . beautiful all of the sudden? And why hadn't I noticed what a nice chest she has?

"Donna, I think it's time you told them what you told us."

Beast Boy quickly expelled the thoughts from his mind, turning his full attention on Donna. "Shouldn't we wait for Raven to awaken?" She wondered.

"We'll get her up to speed when she wakes up." Starfire stood next to her boyfriend, "Please go ahead."

"Why is this Malchior after you?" Damian asked. His arms were folded and his tone conveyed a down to business matter.

She exhaled. "It's not me he's after. He's after my sister."

"Diana? Wonder Woman? Why?" Jaime asked.

"This actually happened while I trained with the Amazons in Themyscira. Diana was already with the League, specifically the founders, before they expanded. What I know about this was only told to me afterwards, but seeing these creatures now, tells me that my sister was right."

"Okay we get it, now what did Wonder Woman do that was so bad?"

"It wasn't anything bad Garfield," Donna snapped. Her unusual outburst quickly shut him up.

"There are some that would argue."

Donna turned her attention to Nightwing before looking down shamefully. "I guess that's true." And she began her story, "Not far from Paradise Island lived a Beast, a terrible fire breathing monster named Drakull Karfang. This creature had the power to turn the hearts of man from kind and gentle to savage and cruel. With a single blast of her breath she was able to change an entire village into her lizard servants."

"The Fangs we have been fighting." Damian deduced.

"Drakull single handedly destroyed many of the villages of Switzerland, she killed thousands and enjoyed every second of it. But this was only a trial run, her real target was Themyscira. Drakull's hatred ran deep for my sisters, and Diana had to stop her, but she wouldn't allow anyone to assist her."

"So she took out her own team to make sure when she went against Drakull, she would face her alone." Nightwing finished, "needless to say, Batman and the others weren't happy with her choice."

Donna nodded, "Be that as it may, she prevailed in the end. Defeating the dragon and taking her heart."

"Taking her heart? That's kinda gruesome."

"Not her physical heart, Gar. Drakull was a unique breed of Dragon called a Dragon Knight. Humans that had the ability to become Dragons with special gem stones. This was the heart Diana referred to. But she didn't destroy it."

Nightwing eyes widened behind his mask. "What? She told the League that she finished her?"

"No .. she couldn't. Not with her son watching." The room fell silent after uttering a few small gasps before she continued. "Malchior was just a boy, and Diana couldn't find it in herself to kill his mother with him watching, so she stole her gemstone and hid it in a special location."

The last word barely left her mouth before Damian spoke. "Well I say we find it and finish what Diana started."

"I'm with Damian." Jaime stood up beside him.

 _ **I thought you were not fond of the human.**_

"Shush."

"Hold on." Starfire stood in front of Donna, "Where is this gem? Does Malchior have a chance at getting it?"

Donna shook her head. "I know where it is. Diana placed the gem in cave high in the mountains of Switzerland. A cave filled with a tremendous horde of treasures of every kind."

"Dude!" Beast Boy jumped, "Treasure hunt."

"Now everyone just wait a second." Starfire exclaimed, "First we need to see if there is even a need to go after this heart at all."

"Malchior has been watching us somehow, waiting for his moment to strike. We find the gem and destroy it he loses what it is he's after." Said Damian. "Besides for all we know he listened to our entire conversation and is now on his way to Switzerland as we speak."

 ** _Damian makes a valid reason. I am in agreement._**

"This doesn't happen often, Damian has the bugs vote, and mine."

Starfire glanced at Nightwing. "Well that's two then, what do you think?"

Nightwing thought on it for a moment. "Malchior isn't going to stop until he gets the heart, we will just be beating him to it."

Starfire nodded, "Donna?"

For a minute she looked to be thinking it over, but quickly scowled. "If Malchior succeeds in getting his mother her heart then she will come after my sisters. My home. I vote we go." Now all eyes were on Beast Boy, who began to shift from one leg to the other nervously.

"Look I don't want anyone getting heart, and the whole 'dragon killing Amazon's' is bad, but if we destroy this gem, we'll be killing her right? And that would leave Malchior without a mother right? Isn't that what Diana didn't want to happen?"

"Diana spared Drakull's life to spare Malchior, who was a child, the grief, but now Malchior is making his own choices to kill, and to change men and women into his servants and if he gets the stone, she'll slaughter thousands." Donna approached him, putting his hand on his shoulder. "I understand your hesitation, but ultimately it's his choice and we can't let Drakull get her claws on that heart."

His ears dropped slightly, "Well I'm not for it. I wanna know if there is possibly another way. And I'm sure Raven would agree with me."

"I do." Everyone turned to Raven as she sat up from the medical bed. "However I believe that the stone would be better if under our protection. Or better yet, Constantine's."

The Titans fell silent the suggestions from each member floating in the air just waiting to be plucked. "How about this? We get the stone, and go from there. How does that sound?" There was a mixture of odd sounds that sounded like hesitation, but agreeing at the same time, except for Damian who flat out wanted to destroy the stone quickly and painfully. "Then it's settled. We leave for Switzerland tomorrow morning early. So rest up."

* * *

Raven hated waking up in the medical wing. The beds sucked, the sheets sucked, everything sucked, but at the end of the day it was better to wake up there then to not wake up at all. She had already finished a round of meditation, showered and was getting ready to settle in for the night when there came a light tapping at her door. She sighed, wishing for nothing more then to just curl up in bed with a book before the mission for the next day, but the knocking came again so she decided to open her door just a crack and wasn't surprised at who was there.

"Hey Rae . . ven." Beast Boy smiled nervously. "I was just wondering if you were doing okay?"

She raised a brow at him. **_He's never checked on me before? Huh . . . . he's kinda . . . cute when he's nervous. Where did THAT come from?!_**

"I'm fine. Just getting ready for tomorrow."

"Oh good . . . . good. . ." And awkward silence befell them, leaving them both to look at anything and anywhere but each other. "Oh, um, thanks for healing me and all that, but I wanted to ask you. Um, do you know how when you healed Damian, and like you saw his memories and stuff?"

And there it was. She exhaled and gave a small nod. "Yes Gar, I remember."

"Oh okay, um . . . so . . did . . you . . . ?"

She was quiet, her face flat and stoic, but she didn't need to answer. "If you ever want to talk about it. You can come to me." She said plainly. "I will never judge or think less of you."

He appeared as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders and he relaxed instantly. "Okay . . um," he shuffled for a bit before suddenly turned away and walking down the hall to his room.

"Garfield-"

"-yeah Raven?" He spun around his full attention now on her.

She looked at the ground, "You can, uh, call me Rae if you like."

His ears perked up, accompanied with a wide toothy smile. "You got it. Rae-Rae."

She narrowed her eyes, "We're having a moment here. Don't ruin it."

His smile never left his face. "Then goodnight Rae." And finished the journey to his room as she slipped back into her own.

"Goodnight Gar."

 _ **Since when did my stomach start fluttering like that?**_

* * *

 **Next day. Switzerland**.

"My word. It's beautiful."

The team of Titans looked out the windows of the T-ship at the beautiful snow covered mountains. "And super cold." Nightwing added. "You sure we're in the right place?" He called back to Donna.

"Positive." She answered, her silver eyes scanning the mountainside. "There. We will need to land there. The rest of the way we have to travel on foot."

"Uh, how about we fly instead?"

Donna chuckled, "that is what I meant."

"Okay Titans prepare for landing." Starfire aimed the ship to a flat bed of rocks, the perfect place to land and exit the ship. Once everyone was out, and bundled in their winter gear they turned to Donna.

"It is not far now." Her gaze landed on Starfire who was still in her usual uniform that left little to the imagination. "Uh, Kori? Where is your coat?"

Starfire looked at her oddly before realizing. "Oh I apologize, but my people are not effected by the cold as badly as you humans are."

Nightwing pulled his coat tighter around his neck. "Makes it difficult to cuddle in front of a warm fire."

Starfire smiled and kissed his cheek, "Don't worry. Your good at other things." She lifted the blushing Nightwing into her arms as the snickering Titans followed Donna further into the mountains. Donna led the way with Blue Beetle by her side and Beast Boy in the shape of a bird behind her, followed by Starfire and Nightwing and then Raven and Damian. She had conjured a disk that stood on, but Raven couldn't help but notice he only wore a thin layered jacket.

"Not to cold?" She wondered.

"I lived in the mountains all my life. I'm used to it." He stated plainly and they rode in silence until he spoke again. "How was the band you saw with Garfield?"

She was quite taken aback. It wasn't like him to take an interest in, well anything. "It was . . nice."

He was quiet for a few beats, "Good."

The team slowly came to a stop along one of the cliffs edges which had just enough room for all of them to land comfortably. Donna removed her gloves and began to move them along the rock wall. "It should be somewhere, got it." Her fingers pressed a small lever that then pushed the rock wall aside leading into a tunnel and deep into the mountain.

"Alright," Beast Boy clapped, "let's do this."

Donna held up her arm to stop him. "Hold on. Now I wasn't sure about this, but I think it bares mentioning. There are rumors that the treasure inside is guarded by a sleeping and large, fire breathing Dragon."

The jaws of her teammates dropped, "And your just telling us this now?" Raven asked dryly.

"Well, it's. . . . Just a legend."

"So was Trigon." Everyone felt the tension rise a bit after Raven's statement.

"Okay how about one of us go in and look for it?" Nightwing offered.

"I would recommend someone non human go." Said Donna, "So that excludes all of us but Starfire."

Her eyes went wide and she backed away. "I'm sorry, but I can not go."

This behavior was odd for her, so Nightwing gently took her hand. "It's okay Kori, you can do it."

She squeezed his hand affectionately. "I know Dick, but . . . I just can't."

Nightwing stared at her for a moment with worry clearly written on his face. She would never say "Can't", she would at least explain why, but it seemed so final. "Kori?"

"How about me?" Beast Boy raised his hand.

"I said non human."

"Well I'm mostly animal. I can shift and change into anything, plus I can cover a ton of ground. There's no way the dragon would be able to find me." Donna was about to retort, but actually couldn't find any argument, so she looked to the others.

"This mission is kind of important." Said Damian. "Besides do you even know what your looking for?"

His face went pale, but Donna came to his rescue. "It is a stone with life. You will know it when you find it."

Everyone shared a concerned look. "If anyone can do it. It's him." Beast Boy glanced at Raven, giving her a small thankful smile.

"Well if she's with the grass stain then so am I." Said Jaime.

"You sure you got this Gar?"

He waved Starfire off. "Totally. Remember, the entire animal kingdom in one beautiful specimen." He went for the rock door. "And if I'm not back in five minutes. Just wait longer." He shifted into a hummingbird and fluttered into the mountain.


	6. Enter the Dragon

**Chapter 6: Enter the Dragon**

The humming of tiny green wings bounced off of the stone walls that descended deeper and deeper into the mountain. The tiny humming bird, though fast, took what little time he had to examine his surroundings with awe and wonder. Something that stood out the most to him was that the walls appeared to be very smooth, as if it was carved out completely by hand, thus adding to the majesty and wonder that he was experiencing. This of course ended the further he got into the mountain. The walls appeared to be colored a dark black, much like coal, as if someone had taken a hot flame to the mountain. This told him that, at one time, a fire-breathing beast had lived here.

 ** _Maybe . . . they moved out?_** He wondered nervously.

The air around him began to get a bit colder the further he went, but strangely it wasn't getting any darker. Just ahead of him he could make out a faint glow, like the flickering lights from a candle.

 ** _Sweet._** He mentally celebrated. **_Almost . . . . there . . ._** He quickly realized that it wasn't fire he was seeing to light the mountain. "Oh . . . man . . ." His voice was barely above a whisper; so there was no way he was disturbing anything that was sleeping. Coming to the end of the hallway he shifted into his human form, taking a look around with his bottom jaw on the ground and somehow managed to utter a breathless, "Whoa."

High above him were a multitude of cracks and openings that were allowing rays of sunlight to reign in from the heavens, illuminating the darkened cavern below. However these miniscule droplets of sunlight would do very little had it not been for the various mountains of treasure that was the light was bouncing off of. Stone pillars stood tall throughout the cave, and though it was a magnificent sight to behold, Beast Boy couldn't take his eyes off the mounds of gold, silver, rubies, pearls, gems, sapphires, and any and all different kinds of treasure that littered the cave floor.

And luckily for him there wasn't a dragon in sight.

His gaze lingered on the trove longer then it should have, his inner animals wanting to touch the shiny objects, before he shook his head. "Focus Gar, your team is counting on you. Gotta show them you don't need to be babied and that you're just as good as 'Damian the great'." Weird, since when was he jealous of Damian? He was just as awesome as the "Son of the Batman". He could turn into any animal in the world for crying out loud and Damian was a powerless human. A powerless human who could hold his own with a bunch of super powered kids. Once again he shook away the thoughts and lept into the cavern and shifted into a small sparrow. He remembered what Donna had said, that the heart/gem would have life, so it shouldn't have been that hard to find.

Right?

Beast Boy fluttered towards the ground, after an hour into his search, to rest his wing/arms. "Oh you've got to be kidding me." He breathed. As he flew about the mountains of gold, resisting the urge to touch it all, he kept himself low to the gold so as to feel any "life". He lifted himself up, gold coins shifting beneath him, and glanced around the cave. Fortunately he still had a lot of ground to cover. Unfortunately, he still had a lot of ground to cover. He exhaled slowly and got to his feet, more gold shifting beneath him, before beginning to move all on their own. He fumbled, swinging his arms to keep his balance as the very ground beneath him began to move until he finally leapt onto a patch of treasure that seemed to be stagnant. He spun around to look back at the moving patch and found that some of the gold and slipped off of something black, and scaly. He froze, not making a sound or movement, then an explosion of air that Beast Boy could see was a pair of nostrils.

"Crap." He realized that he was looking, into the closed eye, of the dragon that guarded this cave. Its nostrils twitched a couple of times taking a few sniffs of the air, sniffing for him. He gulped when he heard shifting from the treasure coming from behind him. "Double crap." The shifting was obviously its tail and was at least a mile and a half long. He spun his head back around to the closed eyelid that slowly began to open.

Thinking quickly, Beast Boy shifted into a stag beetle, hoping and praying that it's shinning shell would camouflage him amongst the other gems and jewels and froze. The gold began to part like the Red Sea revealing a long and scared neck, triangle shaped head with four pointed horns, and glowing hazel eyes that moved all around the area that Beast Boy was hiding, but luckily was unable to find him. Its nostrils flared again, sniffing the air, before growling and hissing with frustration. Beast Boy didn't move a muscle, but was tempted to jump when he heard the dragon begin to speak.

" **I smell you. I hear your breath. I feel your air. I know your there.** " Beast Boy could feel the dragon looking directly at him, but couldn't find him as he hid beside the gemstones. Slowly the dragon's head moved into a different direction. " **Where, are you?** " It sang. While it was distracted, Beast Boy took to the sky, still in his Beetle form, and headed for the exit. Instantly, at the sound of the buzzing, it's head jerked in his direction, not being able to see Beast Boy due to his size, but he knew something was heading in that direction. The dragon slithered atop the sea of gold and silver until its body had blocked the way out, still unsure where the intruder was, but with the door blocked Beast Boy wasn't going anywhere. Beast Boy changed directions and headed for the nearest pillar and settled on top of it. Maybe he could wait him out?

The dragon moved its neck around the base of the pillar, flicking its tongue and sniffing the air. " **Come now. Don't be shy.** " Its deep, singsong voice practically shook his hiding spot. " **Step into the LIGHT!"** It slammed its neck into the base of the pillar, the resulting shockwave knocking Beetle Beast Boy right off and sending him hurtling to towards the ground. He painfully skipped against the pillar until the jade beetle changed back into the green pointy-eared boy and landed with a slam onto the treasure-covered ground. He groaned, thankful that the mound of treasure was high enough that the fall didn't kill him and rolled over to get to his feet, but was quickly met with the enormous reptilian muzzle of the guardian of the mountain. It's large hazel green eyes staring hungrily at the changeling with a scaly grin spreading across its lips. " **There you are."**

Beast Boy's blood ran cold. The dragon's head alone was larger then at least two of him and teeth longer then his own arms. Come on Garfield! Think!

Finally he spoke, saying the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh this is YOUR cave?!" He quickly looked around, putting on his best "stupid and embarrassed" face, "Argh that's right!" He got to his feet and started pointing in random direction, the dragons not once taking his eye off of him. "I have a game station over there and an air hockey table against that wall, and I also have a poster of Zatanna hanging up over there. I'm so embarrassed. This is just one big misunderstanding," Like a child that was in trouble he started shifting on the balls of his feet, "So I will be, erm, leaving now-"

 **SLAM!**

Gold coins flew into the air as the beast slammed its claws into the ground. Beast Boy stopped instantly, his black planted against the wall and stared up at the dragon. It's eyes narrowed down at Beast Boy as he growled. " **The only reason your still alive is because I find your stupidity to be mildly amusing."**

Beast Boy gulped, something that his dry throat was having difficulty doing, but noticed that the dragon was staring at him oddly. "Um, do I have something on my face?"

The dragon moved its head looking his unwanted guest over. " **Odd. You appear as if you belong to the elven clans of the forests, yet you smell of man and Beast flesh? Who-what are you? May I ask?"**

Beast Boy began to relax. If there was one thing that was going to save him now, it was the one thing he was most proficient at.

Talking.

He puffed his chest out a bit, trying to show off as much bravado as possible. "Well, I don't mean to brag, but I have the ability to change into any animal I can think of."

It's brow raised, as much as a reptilian brow could, " **Impressive. Might I see a demonstration?"** The cocky changeling thought for a moment before changing into a giraffe, but even this animal dwarfed in comparison to the fire-breathing behemoth. He changed a few more times to other animals such as a rhino, gorilla, and elephant before changing back into his human self. " **Interesting,** " it hissed with genuine admiration, " **And by what manor or sorcery is this? Elvish? Dark magic?"**

Beast Boy took a seat and leaned against the pillar, getting comfortable by placing his hands behind his head. "It's not sorcery, dude, its science."

The dragon tilted his head. " **Science? Dude?** " It said the both words slowly, saying both for the first time.

"Yeah you know . . . science? Experiments? Study of living things and the world around you?"

The dragon got into a more comfortable position, sitting on its legs and its tail swinging around to keep Beast Boy close, giving Beast Boy the chance to look it over. Besides the fact that it was huge, it walked on four legs with huge black wings protruding from its back, its body littered with missing and chipped scales. From battle most likely. **"And how did 'science' do something like this to you?"**

Beast Boy cleared his throat as bravado gave way to a strange feeling. A feeling that had long since been buried. "Well, my parents were scientists and . . . they were the ones who did this?" He gestured to his green hands.

It's head tilted again with curiosity and an odd cough/laughing noise was produced from its throat. " **So your parents experimented on you with science?** " Beast Boy shifted uncomfortably in his spot, something the Dragon picked up on instantly, producing a large grin on its long face. " **Ah. A dark place I see. Now you have to tell me the tale."**

"Well I don't like to talk about it." He tried to sound brave, but his nerves, combined with the fact that he could be killed at any second, made it difficult.

It chuckled. " **As you wish, then I guess I'll just kill you now."**

Beast boy sat up straight. "Wow would you look at that, I feel super chatty now." The dragon chuckled at his victory. "Well this happened when I was six. Like I said, my parents were scientists that studied animals and I used to travel with them through India, Asia, until we came to Africa. While we were there I was out and about playing, until a monkey bit me, a green monkey and I contracted a disease called sakutia." The dragon made another noise in its throat, but Beast Boy continued. "I was quickly dying and my parents, out of options, injected me with an experimental drug that was able to cure me. But this was the side effect. Lucky me right."

The dragon eyed him curiously, before snorting black smoke from its nostrils. " **Of course, they saved your life. So why did you enter a dark place?"**

The haunting memory overcame the changeling, the dragon seeming to relish in his apparent pain. "Not long after I got my powers. We went for a trip, canoeing along the river. We came to a waterfall, we couldn't get away, they told me to change into a bird and fly to a branch . . . I did, but . . . they . . ." He hung his head, completely forgetting that he was in the presence of a dragon as the anguish washed over him. He was so lost in his pain he hadn't realized he said, allowed, "It was my fault."

The dragon scoffed so loudly that it echoed throughout the cave. " **You didn't slay your parents."**

Beast Boy looked up at the dragon before getting to his feet, shaking and growling with anger. "I could have saved them both. I coulda changed into something bigger and-"

 **"Shoulda, woulda, coulda, didn't**." The dragon hissed. " **Your parents saved your life, not once, but twice and you spend your days with their gift blaming yourself? How selfish."** The dragon then swung his head to the side looking suddenly forlorn at the cave wall. " **Although your circumstances are not something with which I am without sympathy. For I too have lost those whom I have loved."** Beast Boy suddenly relaxed. **"My mate and hatchling were taken from me. And so I have locked myself away from the world in sleep." Its eye moved towards him, "Not unlike yourself."**

Beast boy waved him off. "Come on man. I'm a hero. I save people. I'm here now to help save the world, I'm not locked away. You're the one that locked yourself in this cave."

The dragon's head turned totally to him and moved until it was up close to his own. **"You mean to tell me that those who await you outside know the dark places you travel to?"** His heart, and bottom jaw dropped. " **Yes. I can smell them. The wind is pushing their scents into this cave. There are six of them correct?"** Beast Boys face told the dragon the answer. " **I see. You can't lie to an old dragon, young shape shifter."** The dragon got to all fours. **"Now, before I end your life, I have one more question. Why ARE you here today?"**

Beast Boy gulped again, his mouth speaking the first words that came to mind, hoping it was the right thing.

"I'm here to find the heart, gem thingy of Drakull Karfang?"

That was the wrong thing to say.

Its eyes grew feral, it's belly scales glowing a furious red, and orange before unleashing a stream of red-hot flame into Beast Boys direction. He shifted into a dragonfly and, barely, buzzed out of the direction of the flame. The beast roared. A sound of pure anger and hatred.

 **"YOU WISH TO RAISE THAT CREATURE!? I WILL BURN THIS PLANET TO THE GROUND IF IT MEANT THAT WRETCH WOULDN'T SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY!"** With his jaws releasing more flames, he swung its head in every direction, spraying the air with its blaze. Beast Boy zipped as fast as he could, but wasn't fast enough when the flames burnt his wings.

"GAH!" He screamed changing back into his human form. Once he hit the ground, even with a burnt back, he shifted into a jackrabbit and bolted for the nearest shelter he could find. But the dragon was right behind him, each word it spoke dripping with venom.

 **"SHE IS THE REASON FOR MY SELF IMPOSED EXILE! SHE IS THE REASON THAT I SLEEP!"**

Beast boy was quickly running out of breath as he ran as fast as his rabbit legs could take him. "I'm not trying to bring her back!" He shouted. "We want to take her gem to a safer location. That's all!"

It roared. **"It will stay here! The Amazon left it in my charge because of my hatred and you will not ruin it!"** Once again, fire erupted from its jaws. Beast Boy could practically feel the flames coming right at him forcing him to shift into an armadillo before allowing the fire to engulf him. He was pushed back against the wall of the cave, a wall that somehow gave way, letting him inside before shutting closed and hidden from the dragon.

He changed back into his human self, his hair and skin singed from the attack and exhaustion weighing him down. "Well this isn't working." He whispered. While still sitting on the floor he got into a seated position and scooted back against the wall to rest. As far as he could tell, the dragon was still looking for him, but for now he could rest. At least for a second. "So recap. I'm trapped in cave with a psycho dragon, I need to find a gem, heart thingy all while not getting burnt alive." His head thumped against the stone behind him. "Yeah I've. Got this." He focused on his abilities, tapping in to the lizard, starfish, and octopi to help heal his injuries and regrow skin and muscle tissue all the while he glanced around the room in which he found himself.

A room filled with urns, weapons, portraits, and against the walls were a series of large sarcophagi.

"Oh . . . . poo."

This wasn't just a treasure cave. It was a tomb.

He quickly stood, healed enough, and headed for the piece of the wall that he was sure he came from. If the dragon was this tombs guardian than it was only a matter of time before it would search this area, but before that could happen he thought of something that caused him to pause. Pharaohs would be buried with their most precious gemstones in pyramids with the best of the best right there with them, and if that was the case.

"Then maybe what I'm looking for is right here." With as much respect he could muster he began searching the contents of the tomb going through boxes and urns, hoping that he wouldn't have to actually go into the stone sarcophagi. "Can't they be like me and leave everything on the ground-"

 **"WHERE ARE YOU!?"**

"Okay running out of . . ." His hands wrapped around the last box, small and hidden well beneath the clutter. A box with, as Donna put it, Life. He pried the lid open revealing a variety of small gemstones, but two got his attention. One, silver and about the size of his hand that resembled a dragon wrapping itself protectively over a smaller red ruby. The other, smaller and fit perfectly into his palm, was a sapphire dragon pendent connected to a long chain. He put both into his hands, feeling the same energy flowing from both of them, but was unsure which was which. "Crap."

 **BOOM!**

"Out of time!"

The dragon slammed its claw into the wall, blowing pieces of rock and debris into the tomb, and began scrapping around feeling for him. He tossed the two gemstones into the air, shifted into an eagle and took both of them into his talons. He zoomed from the tomb through one of the cracks the explosion had made, zipping past furious hazel eyes, ignoring its snarls and roars of anger and headed for the exit, making sure to zip side to side in a serpentine fashion. This proved useful seeing as how the dragon was now shooting its breath blindly in his direction. Beast Boy bobbed and weaved, avoiding each strike, but still felt the heat and still felt its rage even as he flew through the exit and towards the outside of the mountain.

* * *

He flew as fast as his wings could take him, up the mountain halls and didn't relax until his eagle eyes were able to pick out the first ray of daylight. He sighed with relief as sunlight washed over his verdant feathers.

"Get ready to love me!" he shouted as he changed back, "Cuz Garfield just SCORED!" With the two gems in his hands he stood triumphantly.

. . . Until . . .

"Triple crap."

Warriors, armed with swords, spears, shields, helmets and armor, stood surrounding his team who were on their knees. Nightwing, Damian, and Donna relieved of their weapons while Starfire, Blue Beetle and Raven were heavily chained. A blonde haired woman stepped between him and his team, helmet under her arm and eyes narrowed angrily.

"You are either very brave, or very stupid green one." She growled.

He ginned nervously. "Can't I be both?"

"Garfield," Starfire scolded, "Do ask they ask." His eyes snapped in her direction in disbelief. She's surrendering?!

 **Boom**!

The mountain shook, but none of his teammates made a move to escape, once again puzzling him. "You woke the beast?!" The woman shrieked, although glancing at his teammates he could see they weren't that surprised. Gee thanks guys. The mountain shook again, a small explosion coming from the other side of the mountain. One of the armored men approached the woman.

"Atmar, we must leave-"

"No!" she scolded, "This is a rare opportunity." She moved to the wall of the mountain, removed a small dagger, sliced her palm and began to wipe her blood onto the rocky surface. "Remove the gems from him, and then chain him like the others." The other soldiers did as they were instructed, taking the gems from the changeling and chaining him down, all the while Starfire begged him not to fight back. Reluctantly he agreed, looking to his confused teammates as to while the "Warrior" was giving up so easily.

The skies erupted with the dragons furious roar, its wings beating against the air with a deafening whoosh, bending trees with thundering cracks and blowing rocks and debris into the air. " **SHAPE SHIFTER!** " It called as he swooped around the mountain.

"CAPTAIN!" One of the soldiers called again. Atmar finished with a strange sigil on the wall, but kept her palm hovering over it.

"Wait . . for . . it." She keeps her eyes on the sky, waiting, waiting, until the dragon suddenly appeared overhead. Its angered eyes glaring hatefully at Beast Boy, but once he saw the soldiers, his eyes widened and was too late for him to turn back. Atmar slammed her bloodied hand against the sigil, which released a stream of white light into the air, washing over the soldiers and the Titans, but left them unharmed, however the dragon roared it what seemed like pain, before falling out of the sky crashing into the mountainside below. Atmar grinned smugly as she walked to the cliffs edge, peering over the side, but could no longer see the dragon.

"Captain, where is it?" one of the soldiers asked.

She snorted a laugh. "Can't you tell? He's right there." She gestured to a young, unconscious man sprawled naked onto the snowy ground. "Collect the Dragon Knight. We will take him, along with these others to her. To Thia."

 **GO check out Thia DC comics and you may find out where I'm going with this. Read and review and well see ya next time.**


	7. The Sun Goddess (part 1)

**Chapter 7: The sun goddess (part 1)**

Thin bristles of a solid gold hairbrush slid smoothly through a full head of crimson colored hair, producing a satisfied moan from its owner. "What is it about getting ones hair brushed that is just so . . . soothing?" she asked aloud.

The brushing of her hair continued as her servant girl shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know. I haven't had someone brush my hair."

Thia opened her eyes staring at the young eighteen year old girl brushing her hair in the mirror. "Surely your mother-"

"No my lady." She answered quickly, "Not even my mother."

Thia grabbed the girl by her hand to stop her brushing before spinning around in her chair to face her. She gently took her by the hands. "Oh my sweet Kole, aren't you glad you no longer have to be around such awful people anymore?"

The one named Kole exhaled, her face a mask of stone, before reciting the lines that she was supposed to say to questions like these. "Yes my lady. Very glad."

Thia cupped her face running her thumbs over her cheeks. "That's right my dear. I am the only family you need. Aren't I?"

Once again, Kole gave the same emotionless and written response. "Yes, my lady."

Thia smiled just as a knock came to her chamber door. "Enter." Thia waved Kole away while one of her guards entered.

He got to one knee, "My lady. Atmar has returned from the Eastern Mountains."

She stood from the chair in front of her vanity, a satisfied smile on her face, "I see, and does she have heads for me?"

Kole visibly shuddered, however the soldier looked at the ground nervously. "I apologize my lady, but Atmar has returned with prisoners."

Thia's smirk faded, her eyes flashing with anger, but then became somewhat puzzled. It wasn't like Atmar to disobey her in such a manor. An unseen energy began to emit from the sun goddess and was aimed at her subordinate who was cowering on his knee. "Take them to the throne room, where Atmar will answer to me." With a quick bow of his head, her guard got to his feet and exited her chambers.

A crimson flame consumed the sun goddess, a flame so bright Kole had to cover her cobalt blue eyes from the light, but once the flame had vanished, in its place stood the goddess dressed in a long golden gown. Atop her head was a crown with antler like horns just above her eyes, colored the same shimmering gold as her dress. Her flaming gaze burned into her young servant girl, an unspoken order for her to follow behind her mistress. Thia stormed from her chambers and headed for her throne room, the skittish girl Kole following close behind.

Thia's healed shoes clacked savagely against the sky blue stone of her throne room until she stood before her large gold encrusted chair, the arms of which were large stone serpents and whose back was crested a picture of the sun. With the back of her legs against her throne she glared over the large space before her that was now occupied with her soldiers and her new prisoners. Her eyes sparked with annoyance and anger, them mild curiosity. There were seven of them, all chained and on their knees. She immediately knew the Amazon of Themyscira, which made her eyes burn brighter with hatred, but the others were an oddity. Two mortals, one green, one orange, one pale, and the final in a strange blue armor.

Her Captain, Atmar, stepped forward. "My lady-"

"Why have you brought me prisoners?" Thia snapped, "When our spies told us of intruders from the East mountains, you were ordered to kill them on sight?"

Atmar quickly fell to one knee. "I apologize, but they had disturbed the dragons keep."

Thia grit her teeth in anger. "Even more of a reason to relieve them of their heads!"

"But my lady." Atmar motioned for her soldiers to bring a young, unconscious, chained man before the goddess. "This IS the Beast." Thia's rage subsided quickly, but Atmar wasn't finished. "There is more, my lady." Atmar handed the gems to Thia. "They took these from the cave." Thia took the necklace and the large ruby into her hands, her eyes brightening with excitement.

"Ah, the heart of Drakull Karfang. But what is this?" She motioned to the necklace. Atmar shrugged, while the others were silent. Thia handed Drakull's gem to Atmar as she stepped around the young man, the necklace being fiddled in between her fingers. She moved his head with her foot, getting a better look at him. His face was covered in a short, shaggy beard and his head matted with long shaggy hair, both colored a bark brown. His body was scared and burned attesting to his battle prowess, but also letting Thia know exactly WHAT he was. "A Dragon Knight." She glanced at the necklace that was now glowing a faint blue and would shine brighter the closer it got to the Boy. She tossed the necklace to her soldiers. "Get that necklace on him so he can keep that Beast inside of him at bay." She glanced at him again noticing he was naked as well, "and get him some clothes." The soldiers bowed and took him away no one noticing Kole staring intently as he was taken away but quickly looked away.

"My lady," Atmar spoke, "now that Drakull's heart is in our possession, what do we do now?"

Thia grinned mischievously. "Isn't it obvious?" She took the gem from Atmar, "We give it to her. I'm sure she would love to thank the Amazons for taking it from her."

Atmar grinned darkly before glancing at their prisoners. "And them?"

Thia snorted, "Kill them of course-"

"My lady!" Thia's grin faded as she turned to her servant girl who was slightly shaking, "I-if I May speak? I-I know who they are."

Thia narrowed her eyes, "Is that so?"

Kole nodded, still shaking. "Th-They are the Teen Titans. They are l-like me." Kole began to wave her hand, a small crystal forming over her fingers.

Thia's face twisted into one of amusement as one of her soldiers suddenly spoke. "It is true my lady. The green one can shape shift."

Thia raised a brow glancing at the green one who was grinning nervously. "Interesting." Thia paused for a few moments, clearly thinking carefully about her next move. Finally she sauntered to her throne. "Take them below and cage them. I would love to see their. . . abilities." The soldiers bowed and pulled the Titans to their feet. Thia grabbed Kole by her arm who "eeped" in pain with her nails digging into her flesh. "Don't speak unless spoken to. Understand?"

Kole nodded, her eyes burning with tears. "Yes . . . my lady." She grunted. Thia twisted her grip, eliciting another yelp before releasing her.

"Follow and use your gifts to cage them." Thia sat on her throne and watched as the Titans were taken away, Kole following behind. The group went below to the base of the tower until they came to a large crystallized holding area where they could hear the sounds of prisoners moaning, and crying in agony.

The Titans were brought to a large open space before removing their chains. Atmar grabbed Kole by her hair and growled into her ear. "Do it now."

Kole glanced at the Titans through tear filled eyes. "I'm sorry." She mouthed and she raised her hands above her head forming enormous crystal walls around the Teen Titans trapping them inside.

* * *

"So on a scale of one to ten, how screwed are we?" Though his teammates didn't vocalize their concerns in the same manner, the question was definitely on each of the Titans minds.

"Her name is Thia, the sun goddess." Said Donna as a response to Beast Boys question. "She had escaped Tartarus many years ago and had originally lived not far from paradise island until Hippolyta forced her away. Apparently she ended up here."

"Well that's just fantastic." Beast Boy threw his arms up in frustration, but something else was puzzling him, "How did her goons get the jump on you guys?"

"That's a good question," Damian that spoke, his voice laced with sarcasm. His arms were folded and his scrutinizing glare was pointed at Starfire. "How about you explain it to us Kori?" He glared angrily at their fearless leader whose head was hanging low in shame.

Nightwing grabbed the young Robin by the arm and pulled him harshly. "Watch what you say."

It was a weak order, one Damian was able to pick apart easily. "Don't act like your not as frustrated as I am. Once those soldiers came on us, Kori instantly surrendered." It was silent in their crystal prison more a few moments minus Blue Beetle who was busy scanning the crystal walls of their prison while all eyes were on the alien warrior, Garfield in particular staring in disbelief.

"But what about the whole 'Warrior of Acapulco' thing?"

"Not even close Beast Boy." Raven muttered.

Nightwing ignored everyone and everything else, placing all of his attention and love on his girlfriend whose hands were rubbing her bare arms. He approached calmly and lovingly, taking her hands in his. "Kori, I love you no matter what, but I have to agree with everyone. You have been off this whole mission, and even before we left, and I just want to know why. I promise I won't be angry, just talk to me."

Starfire's eyes were still on the ground, flashing with shame. "You might as well tell them Kori." Everyone turned to Raven in surprise, Nightwing himself in more disbelief then before, but once Raven had spoken Starfire finally lifted her head to face her boyfriend, an uneasy smile on her lips.

"I apologize, my beloved," she said softly, "I honestly didn't expect this mission to be as intense as it has been, but there is a reason for my odd behavior. You see I'm trying to keep myself away from battle or fighting for the sake of my life," she took her hands back and placed them on her lower abdomen, "and the life of our bumgorf."

All eyes went from where her hands had been placed to her face and then back again, everyone but Raven who seemed to somehow be clued in as to what was going on. Nightwing pinched his brows together looking down at her abdomen as she had her hands wrapped protectively around it.

He looked into her eyes. "Bum-gorf?" He said slowly.

She nodded, smiling nervously again. "It is our word for child, infant or . . . baby."

Once again his eyes went back and forth between her hands and eyes, until his own began to widen behind his mask. "B-B-Baby?" She nodded. "Baby? Your . . . a baby?" His mind, sharpened by the Batman, seemed to be sputtering to life seeing as how the word had shut him down completely. "Your . . . p-p-p-"

"Pregnant." Starfire spoke, "I am pregnant with your-our bumgorf, er, baby."

Silence.

"A BABY?!" Donna shrieked excitedly. She was by Starfire in a second, wrapping her in a hug and spinning her around and laughing.

"Dude! Pregnant?! That's awesome! Wait how did you know?" Beast Boy asked Raven.

She shrugged. "Empath, remember? And I certainly wasn't going to say anything if she wasn't ready to." Beast Boy nodded, excepting her explanation then joined in congratulating his team leaders, even if Nightwing was still staring off in to space unable to form but one word.

"B-B-Baby?"

* * *

"What are we looking at?" Damian was looking over Blue Beetles shoulder while he was examining the crystal walls that held them.

"It's not normal crystal." He responded. "It's like crystal on steroids."

 ** _Promethium And silicone crystal._** The scarab on his back corrected.

"Er, silicone and promethium."

"Stand back!" Starfire shouted, her hands already glowing with Starbolts at the ready.

"NO!" Blue Beetle's armor created a sort of cuff around her hands, stopping her powers from being unleashed. "This crystal will absorb your starbolts, then blast it back a thousand times harder and it's got nowhere to go back right back at us."

Starfire began to relax allowing Blue Beetle to release her. "Then what do we do?" Nightwing asked.

Blue Beetle shrugged. "I don't even think your special explosives would be able to scratch it and without any way to knock it down I don't think there is much we can do."

"How 'bout we smash it down." Beast Boy was cracking his knuckles, ready to unleash hell on their prison.

"Go ahead, I'll laugh." Damian smirked.

Blue Beetle ignored him as he responded, "Probably not the greatest idea, Gar."

Beast Boy frowned, "Then what the hell do we do?"

The group was deep in thought for a beat before Raven spoke. "The girl." They glanced at her waiting for her to elaborate. "It's clear that she doesn't want any part of this, maybe we can try communicating with her."

"How would we do that?" Donna asked.

"I release my soul self and try to find her. Then speak to her telepathically."

"Wow, you make it sound so easy."

Raven glared at Damian. "You have a better idea?"

He flinched slightly, not visibly enough that his team caught it, but Raven had. "I don't want us to trust our lives into someone we don't know."

"I'm with Damian." Blue Beetle shrugged.

"Ditto." Beast Boy raised his hand. "If you do that how do we know she won't turn us in to Thia?"

"I am with Raven one hundred percent." Starfire said forcefully. Her eyes were narrowed and were sparking dangerously. "I know what it feels like to be enslaved, I know the look of absolute terror one has when their tormentors are mere feet away from you, and I know, with certainty, that poor girl is here against her will and I will not stand here and allow her to stay here another second longer."

There was collective gulping that echoed against the crystal walls, letting everyone know that a decision had been made. Raven was about to utter the spell that would release her soul self when a hole was created in the wall. Beast Boy and Damian stood in front of her, blocking any idea that they were up to no good, when the crystal manipulating girl stepped inside. Starfire's heart shattered looking at the poor girl before her. She moved much like a frightened animal that would bolt in a seconds notice. Her tired and sunken eyes were downcast and nervously moved upwards to face them. Directly behind her was a soldier, a spear in his hand and pointed at her back. It was clear to Starfire that this poor girl was defeated and filled with hopelessness.

She licked her dry, cracked lips. "Lady Thia has requested your presence in the arena where you will be tested as to the extent of your abilities." She said in a small voice. "If you would all follow me, we will get you ready for combat." She turned around, But was stopped by a gentle hand on her shoulder. She jumped out of her skin as she spun around to stare into the emerald eyes of the red haired woman. The soldier aimed his spear, but Starfire's furious gaze froze him in his spot.

She looked back to her. "What is your name?" She asked softly.

Still shaken, she gave a small, "K-Kole."

Starfire smiled before frowning angrily. "I swear, to my holy creator X'hal, we will get you out of here."

Kole's eyes examined her carefully and for a split second, almost believed her, before her gaze fell again. "Lady Thia has requested your presence." She ripped her shoulder from Starfire's grip and stood by the smirking soldier. "If you would please follow me."

* * *

The seven heroes were forced into a colosseum style arena, with Thia, Kole and her soldiers watching from above. Donna, Nightwing and Damian had been given their weapons back, but instead of preparing for combat the two members of the Batclan were busy looking for a way out. Unfortunately Thia's soldiers, combined with Kole's crystal powers, the place was locked down tight.

"What's the word bat boys?" Beast Boy asked quietly.

"Just give us some time and we should find a way out of here." Said Nightwing just as a stone door at the far edge of the arena opened. Two more of Thia's soldiers were dragging the young man, no longer unconscious or naked, into the center of the arena and dropped him onto his hands and knees. Beast Boy ran to his side, apparently having forgotten that a few hours ago this guy was an enormous fire breathing Beast.

"Hey dude you alright?"

With ragged breath he looked up at the changeling through a pair of hazel eyes. The same pair that looked at him hungrily back in the dragons den, but this time they were confused.

"Who-who are you?"

Beast Boy tilted his head. "Uh, from the cave? The shape shifter?" He shook his head with confusion, his shaggy unkempt hair falling into his eyes. _ **How could he not remember?**_

"HEAR ME!" The Teen Titans, and the ragged stranger, looked up to the sun goddess who was now standing with arms outstretched over the arena. "My servant assures me that you are gifted like her, now that will be put to the test. The rules are simple. Survive." She waved her arms again. "Release my brothers!" More doors began to open along the walls of the arena, but these doors were enormous, easily standing ten to twelve feet tall. The Titans gathered in the center of the arena, Beast Boy helping the stranger to his feet just as the ground begin to shake.

"Donna. Who are her brothers?" Blue Beetle asked.

Footsteps thundered towards them accompanied with roars of challenge ready for battle. Donna removed her lasso. "You call them giants." Just then a shadows began to loom over the group of heroes.

 **My stupid auto correct changed most of "Thia" into "This" so if you noticed any I apologize. All of this going on is based on Kole Weathers actual storyline from her origin in the comics "the New Teen Titans" So it's not just my original idea. For those who are looking for more romance, fear not, we'll be getting to that in the next chapter. Promise. One thing, the stranger with them is an OC of mine if you didn't know that already.**

 **Anyways read and review and see ya next time.**


	8. Titans meet Titans

**Chapter 8: Titans meet Titans**

Not long after Thia had escaped the prison of the Underworld, she knew she was going to need an army if she was ever going to try and take Mt Olympus for herself. Thus she worked to release her brothers from the same prison, Tartarus. The Titans. Giants ranging in height from thirty-six feet to ten feet tall. Sure she may have lost a few of her brothers in various battles over the centuries, but enough had survived for protection, battle, or tests such as these.

Thia gripped the arms of her chair in excitement when the thundering footsteps of her brothers increased. "Let's get ready to rumble." She smirked delightfully. Four of them thundered through the large doors that led into the arena. Two were about fifteen feet tall, one was twenty feet tall with a single eye, and the last was roughly eighteen feet tall, and each were covered head to toe in thick metal armor and swinging a variety of different weapons from tree trunks to heavy axes, chains, and mace like weapons. Accompanying their footsteps, they would unleash grunts, snorts, and roars of challenge, beating their chests attempting to assert their dominance not just in front of those in the arena, but also to each other.

Thia reached out her finger, pointing to the group of heroes in the center of the arena. "KILL THEM MY BROTHERS!" she ordered, to which they happily obliged.

* * *

"TITANS GO!"

No one was sure where the order came from, but each Titan, along with the stranger, took off I'm different directions as an enormous mace came crashing down into the spot where they were just standing.

"Dude, where do you find huge ball spike thingys in this size?!" Beast Boy, in the form of an eagle, squawked.

"Not the point, Gar." Raven levitated beside him, flying circles around another one of the giants hoping to disorient it.

The young man was having a hard time staying on his own two feet so Damian grabbed his arm, draped it around his shoulders, and ushered him to the walls of the arena.

"Thanks." He breathed, but Damian showed little sympathy.

"I can't afford to babysit you. Can you fight at all?"

He was leaning on his knees his eyes and taking deep breaths, as if he was focused on something in his minds eye. Strangely Damian recognized this action as something Raven would do on occasion. "Yup. But I've been asleep as a dragon for the last hundred and seventy some odd years. It's gonna take me a minute to get my land legs back."

Damian glanced upwards as one of the fifteen footers came stomping towards them. "You have thirty seconds." Damian drew his sword and faced the behemoth coming towards them.

"Drake."

Damian looked back. "What?"

"My name. It's Drake."

"KORI!" Nightwing shouted to his pregnant girlfriend, but she was to busy with Blue Beetle blasting at the cyclops to hear his cries. However it's head was helmeted with a helmet to keep its one eye behind bars of metal allowing it to see, and still keep itself protected. Nightwing ran to her aid, only to have a lasso wrap around his chest and pull him backwards, out of the way of another giants attack.

"You cannot be distracted." Donna scolded.

Nightwing removed the lasso with a huff. "I can't let her fight-"

"-you mustn't lead Thia to believe that you are anything more then just lovers. If she learns of your child, she may use it against you and her."

Nightwing grit his teeth. He was well aware of how villains behaved and how they reacted to such knowledge, but it was much different seeing as how he was the one in the situation.

"LOOK OUT!"

Blue Beetle and Starfire hooked their arms under Donna and Nightwing helping to get the two to safety as the cyclops came down on them. "Standing around wouldn't be the most ideal way to win this battle." Starfire commented, but Nightwing reacted as if he hadn't heard her.

"Kori, you can't stay here and fight. Your putting yourself and or child in danger."

Her eyes narrowed angrily. "I am aware, but I will not simply sit aside and let my friends and family fight FOR me."

Nightwing began to beg with her at this point. "I know Kori, but you have to-"

"-I am a warrior of Tameran. I am stronger then you think. Thus I will fight not only for our freedom but for our bumgorf." The two landed and faced the cyclops charging towards them. "Now shall we take them down." She growled with her hands glowing a menacing green. Nightwing drew the metal robs from his back. The only way he was going to protect his stubborn girlfriend and unborn child was to fight by her side.

Damian shot his grappling hook into the giants arm and pulled himself upwards, his other hand holding tightly to the handle of his sword. Once on top of its arm, Damian sprinted towards its face, hoping that we would be able to at least stab its eyes out, but the giant was onto his strategy and began swinging his arms side to side in the hopes of getting the young man off of him. Surprisingly, Damian was holding on just fine, and when he did begin to lose his footing, he plunged the spikes on his forearm into the flesh of the beast to keep him from falling. The giants massive hand came down on top of Damian like flattening a mosquito, forcing him to let go and plummet to the ground below.

Lucky for Damian he wouldn't fall far. "I've got ya bird boy!" Beast Boy grabbed Damian by his shoulders with his talons and helped him to the ground.

"Thanks. But I need to be up there."

"Allow me." A black disk of magic appeared underneath Damian and lifted the boy back up so that he was eye level with the giant. Raven made sure to follow behind so that when the giant swung at Damian she was able to change the disk into a bubble shield to protect him, then launched Damian into the giants face.

Raven maneuvered her magic to keep Damian steady, But was unaware of another giant swinging his tree trunk weapon directly at her.

"RAVEN WATCH OUT!" Garfield shouted from the ground.

Hearing his cry, she just barely caught sight of the tree coming at her out of the corner of her eye, giving her only a fraction of a second to erect a shield to stop the attack. Her protection lasted for only a minute before shattering and was hit in the stomach on the follow through, knocking the wind out of her and sending her spiraling to the ground.

Beast Boy felt as if he himself was just attacked as the air left his lungs. His body went rigged, his brain struggling to process what he had just seen, and wasn't until he saw Raven, unconscious in the giants fist and brought to its open mouth did he finally snap out of it.

Now all he could see was red.

With a speed he wasn't aware he possessed, he pounced. His limbs cracking, twisting and breaking into different shapes he was unfamiliar with but he didn't care. Raven was in trouble. He had to save her. He had to change to save her. He had to change into something! He felt his limbs crack and split, his neck pop and twist, his muscles rip, tear then reconnect getting bigger and stronger. It was painful, excruciating even, but it wouldn't be half as painful if he lost her. Now sporting an elongated tail, six back legs, powerful front legs tipped with hook-like claws, and two lion shaped heads, he sprung from the ground with a crack and dug his new fangs into the giants arms. He could feel how tough its skin was, almost like rock, but his claws and teeth pierced its flesh like a hot knife in butter. It let a horrid scream as Beast Boys claws ripped its arm to pieces, forcing it to release the unconscious demoness from its grip. Beast Boy launched himself off the giants arm, catching Raven by the cloak in his teeth before landing softly onto the ground, then positioned himself over top of her, daring any of the giants to come near her.

Thia grinned at the shape changer. "Interesting."

Meanwhile, without Raven's magic to keep him steady, Damian clung to the giants face when something accord to him. He thought back for a moment. "Um, what's a matter, Uh, ugly? Can't you hit me?" Taunting and teasing wasn't really his style, but he had seen Beast Boy do it a few times so it couldn't have been that difficult right? Luckily for him this Beast was dumb enough to fall for it. With the fist that wasn't holding its weapon, it attempted to grab the tiny human that had latched himself to its face, but Damian scurried out of its reach, his sword at the ready and jammed it into the giants right eye. Damian fought to ignore its bellows of pain, especially since it was right in his ear, and moved to retrieve his sword. But just as his hand grasped around the handle, the giant flung his head to the side, throwing the sword out of his eye, and tossing Damian from his head. Now free falling Damian reached for his grappling hook, which still had enough gas to power another shot, but he wouldn't need it.

"I gotcha kid."

A pair of arms wrapped around his waist, brining him back up towards the giant, and to his surprise it wasn't anyone he was familiar with. Drake had jumped from the ground, plucking Damian right out of the sky and subsequently saving his life. With gritted teeth and a battle cry, Drake kicked Damian's falling sword sending it spinning back right into the giants other eye.

"Let's kill this thing." He growled. Damian and Drake separated, taking stances on either side of its head, standing on its shoulders. Damian withdrew the sword and placed it under its neck, and with Drake on the other side, pushed the blade clean through its neck and taking its head right off.

They rode the corpse of the giant until it came crashing onto the ground below. "I thought I gave you thirty seconds?" Damian exclaimed.

Drake shrugged. "I think what you meant to say was 'thanks for saving my ass', right?" Damian rolled his eyes with a small smirk just as an ear splitting shriek silenced any activity in the arena.

Drake covered his eyes when a bright red and black bubble began to appear. "What the hell is that?"

Damian followed his line of sight, "Oh . . no."

* * *

Raven slowly stirred until her violet eyes fluttered open. For a moment she had forgotten where she was, but was quickly reminded when she heard the roar of battle around her, and green muscles tensed protectively around her. She breathed a sigh of relief for at least she knew she was safe. At least she thought so.

"You alright Rae?"

Hearing his voice confirmed her suspicions, but when she looked up at Beast Boy she grimaced, specifically at his . . . two heads. "Gar? Wha-what the?"

He glanced at himself nervously. "Uh, Yeah. Something new I guess, just like when we vacationed to your dads summer home."

She took another moment to look over his new form. "You're a chimaera."

He shrugged, "Who cares what I am as long as I was able to save you." All four of his eyes popped at what he just said, as Raven's brow slowly furrowed into confusion, her cheeks shimmering a faint pink, but not as pink as his own. "What I mean . . . is . . . two heads, more of me to love-"

 **Thwam**!

A bloodied arm backhanded the distracted changeling. Raven watched as her teammate skipped across the ground before coming to a painful stop at the arena wall.

"GAR!" Concern and worry clutched at her insides like a tight fist. Where was this coming from? She had seen Beast Boy beaten plenty of times, but what was this new overwhelming sensation she was feeling for the changeling. She remembered when it started though. When Terra first threw him aside she felt a small flicker of the same feeling, but now it had intensified. She glared angrily at the giant that had harmed him, before then glaring at the goddess who was whopping and hollering in her chair taking great pleasure in their pain. Raven glanced at her other teammates who were dueling and losing their battle with the other giants.

The small flicker, became a flame..

She grit her teeth and another sensation clawed at her insides. This one she was familiar with. Her eyes flashed red, before another pair forming above her eyes and with one explosive push of her powers screeched, "ENOUGH!" A bubble of black and red energy exploded outwards from her body, pushing against the giants that attacked her friends and family until they slammed against the walls of the arena, but she wasn't finished. Not by a long shot. Black and red tentacles wrapped around the giants and slowly began to drag the screaming and horrified beasts into the blackness that surrounded them, but to where, was anyone's guess and soon enough it was silent except for their screams echoing into the darkness of absolute nothingness.

The shadows receded back under the cloak of the dark damsel, bringing the sunlight back into the arena. Her friends had fallen for any cover they could find, which wasn't much so they opted to huddle together until the darkness had completely vanished.

The Titans glanced worriedly at their teammate while Drake looked on in amazement and a flicker of fear. "What . . was that?" He asked.

"That, my friend, was magnificent." Thia had left her spot on top of the arena to gaze in awe and wonder at the demoness. "This is Trigons gem, and now my ultimate weapon."

Raven collapsed onto the ground but not before her teammates took positions around her, especially a very feral and angry changeling.

"Touch her, and you die." He snarled.

Thia, however didn't break stride as she headed to her prize, for no sooner as she was inches away from the Titans, large crystal walls formed around the Titans, trapping them.

They fought against the solid stone, their captor, Kole, Looking at the floor in shame. "I'm. . . sorry."

"Stop saying your sorry!" Damian yelled, "Fight back!"

Thia froze mid step before glaring over her shoulder with amusement at the young cowering girl. "Oh by all means my dear. Fight me."

It suddenly fell silent, except for Kole's shuddering and uneven breathes. Thia turned around with her arms outstretched. "Go ahead. Strike me down." Nothing but shaking. "Do it. DO IT!" Kole dropped to her knees at her outburst and began sobbing. Thia threw her head back roaring with laughter before turning to Titans. "Sorry heroes, but just like a faithful steed I have broken her." This time she glared at Damian. "She won't disobey her master. She. Is. Mine."

A chilling silence enveloped everyone present, except for the gasping and sobbing of the poor girl on her knees. "You may have her mind. But you don't have her spirit." The voice was so quiet hardly anyone registered it, but Thia had. Now her malicious fury red gaze was trained on the young shaggy haired, unkempt Dragon Knight. She scoffed, but he wasn't finished. "The spirit can be beaten, bludgeoned, tortured and scared. But it can NEVER be broken."

Thia scoffed again. "And yet she is still on her knees at my feet."

Drake shrugged casually. "Nobody stays on their knees long. We all stand eventually." Thia and the young warrior met each others fiery stare head on, neither one breaking an inch. Not even when one of her guards had come and whispered something in her ears I'd she break, but eventually she looked away.

"Take them below. I have to see to this." Thia and a few of her guards headed back to her palace while the others took the Titans below.

* * *

"Great, we're still not any closer to getting out of here." Beast Boy threw up his arms and flopped onto the ground and unfortunately the others were inclined to agree with him.

"At least whatever Thia is doing now has bought us some time." Said Nightwing. "But maybe not much."

"Please tell me you guys got away with something?" Blue Beetle begged the bat boys.

"Even if we did," Damian responded, "nothing we have can cut through this crystal."

The Titans each bowed their heads in thought, minus Raven who was still recovering from the exertion she displayed. Donna Troy looked over to the one named Drake, who had been shackled in heavy iron on his wrists. Something about stopping his powers, which had yet to be seen. "You seemed to believe in that girl, and her ability to stand up for herself." She commented.

Drake had his head leaned back against the crystal wall, his expression one parts meditation and one part resting. "You could see it in her eyes. There is still life. There is still fire. She just needs the right fan."

"I . . . can help her." Raven struggled to her feet, but Damian was quick to help steady herself and try to dissuade her.

"You used to much power-"

"-please. A quick astral projection is a cake walk. Besides I don't hear anyone else coming up with any ideas."

Silence.

"Go for it Rae." Beast Boy encouraged, "But if you overdo it, I'm claiming your almond cookies when we get home." Her eyes snapped open, "come on I can smell them." She narrowed her eyes, but Gar caught the slightest twitch of a smile.

She floated into a lotus position. "By the powers of Azarath, I beseech you. Azarath metrion ziiiiiiiiiiiinthoooooooos." The familiar black shape of her soul self in Raven form flew from her body, easily penetrated their crystal prison and flew off in search of the crystal manipulator.

The poor girl wasn't hard to find. Her emotional output was of severe depression, hurt, fear, and defeat. But Drake was right. There was a tiny, small glimmer of hope still lit in her soul. Raven used a hint of her empathic power to help ease her fear and confusion, and projected a small speck of comfort. Kole's shoulders began to suddenly relax, it was an odd, but welcomed feeling. After a few more moments of sending her calming emotions, Raven decided to make herself known.

"Your name, is Kole right?"

Kole should have been afraid of the black mass before her, but strangely she wasn't. "Y-yes."

"My name is Raven. I don't have a lot of time. I'm here to try and convince you to help us escape."

Kole wrapped her arms around her legs, proverbial walls being erected around herself, but Raven fought to break them down. "I-I Can't."

Raven looked down at the young woman, her heart breaking at her state. "I understand-"

"-NO YOU DONT ! YOURE A SUPERHERO-"

"-a superhero whose father came to this world to destroy it." Kole's mouth fell open, wordless. "All I ever wanted was my father to love me. To have a home. To have a mother who loved me, but I was treated with hate and used for my power. But I found friends who raised me, protected me . . . loved me. And when my father entered this world they were there to help send him back."

Kole's head fell into her knee. More sobs shaking her tiny frame. "I . . . I . . ."

"I didn't think they'd be able to beat my father either, or help beat my inner demons, but they surprised me." Kole looked up into the black Raven with water filled blue eyes. Drake was right, they were heavy with defeat, but there was still fire left.

"Your stronger then you know, you just need to believe that." Raven could feel her soul self begin to wane. "Please . . . help us . . help you . . ."

Raven's body fell to the ground with a thud as her soul self returned to its vessel. "Well?" Damian asked as he helped her to her feet to which Raven responded by shaking her head.

"She's to damaged, I don't think. . . . I'm sorry."

"It's okay Raven," Starfire soothed, "we'll find another way."

And they would have, if the crystal walls hadn't started to shift and move.

* * *

.

Thia entered the throne room where a young man in a dark black coat and a scarf around his face was waiting patiently.

"My lady." Malchior greeted, "You have something for me?"


	9. Authors Note

**A/N:**

 **Hello all!**

 **It is with great sadness that I must inform you all that I will be terminating this project. What started out as a simple DCAU bbrae story has turned into a long, convoluted mess that has taken on a life of its own and am thus, unhappy with it. I know not a lot of you feel this way, but for me personally I just feel I have strayed to far off my original starting point for my taste. And so, with a heavy heart, I will no longer be working on this story. I may pick it up again, at a later time with a different plot, but for now there will be no more updates.**

 **I am so grateful to all of you who have reviewed, read, followed and favorited, and hope you continue to do so with my other works.**

 **I hope to see you there!**

 **On with the show!**


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